Full Circle
by njborba
Summary: Derek struggles to forgive Emily. He just hopes that his hurtful words aren't the last ones she ever hears from him.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 1

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Emily grabbed a file and shoved it into the open bag on her desk in the living room. She'd just flipped open a second file to scan the photos inside when she heard a knock at her door. That file was closed and pushed into her bag as well before she went to answer. According to her watch it was a little early for the person she was expecting, but not terribly so. Three feet from the door she felt something crunch beneath her feet. With an annoyed huff and a flourish, she swung the wooden door open and knelt down to clean up the small mess she'd come across on the floor.

On her hands and knees, staring at the floor, Emily welcomed her guest inside. "Hey, Silvia. You're early and I'm running a little late, as usual. Maybe you can help me..." her voice trialed off as she noticed the shoes that were standing in her open doorway; dark and manly. Definitely not anything her fifty year old next door neighbor lady would be wearing.

She jumped to her feet and faced the man standing in front of her. "Hello, Emily," he greeted her with an unreadable expression.

Her expression was very telling, though. Complete shock about summed it up perfectly. "Derek?" Emily's heartbeat thumped a noisy cadence in her head as she stared open-mouthed at him. "What are you... I wasn't... I mean I didn't..." She sighed and gave up on words, not sure what it was she wanted to say.

"What am I doing here?" he finished one of her thoughts. A shrug shifted both shoulders toward his ears. His face finally revealed some small emotion, caught half way between a smile and a scowl. "I don't know, I guess I was just curious as to why you took off three years ago without a word to me or anyone else on the team."

A lump resided high in her throat and Emily did her best to swallow it, but swallowing pride was difficult. "I thought it was best to leave after what we... what I did."

"You mean sleeping with me?" Derek wasn't about to dance around the issue. He'd been searching three years for an answer and now that she was standing in front of him, he planned to get one out of her. "Or maybe you meant the part where I woke up the next morning and you were gone?"

Emily clasped her hand tighter around the items she'd picked up off the floor a few seconds ago, practically crushing them against her palm. "It was just one night, Morgan."

He nodded, easily picking up on the way she'd switched to calling him Morgan. It was a dodge, and not a particularly good one. "Yeah, one night," he slowly breathed out the words as he continued to stand there in her open doorway, noticing that she looked even more beautiful than he remembered the last time he'd seen her. "One night in which I finally realized how much I cared about you. And then you were gone the next day, just gone. No note, no message... nothing."

She caught the undertone of irritation in his voice and grew defensive because of it. "Don't even try to make me out to be the bad guy in this, Derek. You..." Emily shook her head. "You were about to marry Tamara in two weeks," she reminded him. "I knew you were just confused and probably a little scared about taking that next step, so I left. I eliminated any doubt you might have had."

Derek scoffed. "Did you even hear what I just said?" he asked. "It wasn't doubt, Emily. It was denial. I clung to her because I didn't think I stood a chance with you, but that night..." Morgan took a deep breath. He'd practiced the words so many times over the last few years and suddenly they all seemed to slip away. All that was left was the truth. "You felt it too, I know you did."

"Of course I did," she replied without a second thought. "I felt it a long time before that night, but it wasn't right. We worked together and you always made it clear you weren't interested in anything serious, I didn't think you'd ever settle down. Then I watched you grow closer to Tamara and I admit that I was jealous and it lead me to do something very stupid that night. That's why I had to leave, for you. I wanted you to be happy and I thought she'd be the one to finally make that happen for you."

"I didn't marry her, Emily," he revealed. "I called it off and I looked for you. For three years I've been looking for you. Now that I've found you, we can start over." Derek wore a smile, a genuine one that relayed his desire to follow through on those words. "I don't want to argue about the past, it's not relevant any more. I just want to finally get on with my life... with you now."

"Oh, Derek," Emily sighed. She'd thought about seeing him again, a hundred times over, but she never imagined him saying the things he just had. "It's not that simple."

His smile faded and his whole face fell as he looked past her shoulder and around the house. Derek caught small glimpses of her new life. There was cozy furniture and framed pictures, a bunch that looked like they held images of a small child. "You're married, aren't you?" he bravely asked. "You have kids and a family; all the things I wasn't ready for, don't you?"

"Derek..." Emily began to answer his questions, but found she didn't need to when someone else came to join them.

"Mama," a soft, sweet voice called out.

Morgan spotted the little girl who'd snuck up on them. She wore a pink t-shirt and purple polka-dot leggings and clung to Emily's leg for dear life. Her hair was mused and big, dark eyes with long lashes drooped in a manner that made him guess she'd just woken up. She was also holding a large, stuffed bunny rabbit in her left hand that looked like it had been used as a pillow many times over. "I guess that's a pretty good confirmation," he concluded, smiling down at the girl.

Emily finally dumped her handful of Cheerios onto the nearby desk then bent down, scooped the girl up and kissed her cheek. "Hey, baby," she cooed to the child. "You didn't take a very long nap. Silvia was supposed to be here when you woke up." The girl didn't seem to care about her mother's words as much as she did Emily's shoulder. She laid her little head down, snuggling against Emily's chest and shoulder. Her eyelids closed as she started to fall asleep again.

Derek felt his three-year-long dream slip through his fingers as he watched Emily with the toddler. At the same time, he couldn't help noticed how cute the little girl was. With her fair skin and dark mop of hair she looked a lot like Emily. "I should probably go before I make an even bigger fool of myself," he announced as Emily moved closer to the door and him, toddler still in her arms. "I'm sorry if I intruded..." his words slowly tapered off as he stared at the child more closely. A sudden spark of recognition caused goose bumps to erupt along his arms. "Son of a..."

Emily watched as his eyes roamed her daughter's features. She knew what he was seeing, because it was what she'd seen the moment her little girl had been born. It would have been obvious to anyone who knew both father and daughter. "Derek, I wanted to..."

"How could you?" he didn't let her finished. "You should have told me."

In a matter of seconds she'd seen his face turn from shock and realization to instant love for his daughter, and then to a fiery rage. "You're angry," she stated the obvious.

"Damn right I am," Derek growled, doing his best to restrain the furious beast churning in his stomach. He stared at the little girl who had drifted back to sleep. In that second he wanted nothing more than to grab the child from Emily and run. But he shook his head and slowly took several steps backward. "I can't do this right now, otherwise I might end up saying some things I'll regret later." Morgan tore his eyes away from the child and turned his steely gaze on Emily. "We need to talk, though," he spoke through gritted teeth. "Maybe tonight or tomorrow morning," he suggested, hoping he'd be calmed down by then. "I know how to contact you now, expect a call."

She nodded a response, unsure of her voice. Both Emily and the toddler were startled as he slammed the door shut on them. Emily ran a hand over her daughter's downy-soft hair. "It's okay," she spoke in a soothing tone and placed a gentle kiss against the girl's cheek. "Normally Derek is a really good guy, but he's just a little upset right now," she whispered as the child settled down against her shoulder again. "Not Derek," she mumbled. "He's your daddy," Emily corrected herself. "And mama's sorry she made such a big mess of things, baby."

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 2

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Derek sat inside the cozy café, nervously drumming his fingers on the laminated-wood table. He stared out the window. The Seattle sky looked gray and morose, kind of like he felt at the moment. An emerald green awning kept most of the light rain from hitting the clear glass. He took a cautious sip of his hot coffee and watched the bustling Saturday morning street crowd as he waited for some sign of her. The weather didn't seem to slow people down. They were dressed in sweaters and jackets, whereas mid-April in Virginia the weather was already turning warm enough for t-shirts. Morgan spotted her across the street and watched as she nimbly side-stepped a curb, escaping the wet rush of rainwater that traversed the street gutter. His eyes never left her as she entered the coffee shop, glanced around and caught sight of him by the window.

"Can I sit?" Emily asked as she approached the table, being overly careful in how she dealt with him.

He nodded and pushed a cardboard cup toward her as she settled into the metal chair across from him. "I hope you still like your coffee black with sugar?"

"I do," she answered, warming her chilled hands against the paper cup. "Thank you." Silence engulfed them for a moment after that as they watched the rain fall for a short time. Neither one of them was sure what to say. But, knowing he'd been the one to call her, Emily decided to make the second move. "Derek, I'm sorry," she began with an apology, a rather pitiful one considering the size of her mistake. But a genuine one nonetheless. "I really did want to tell..."

"When?" he stopped her, shaking his head in a doubtful manner. "Maybe when she turned eighteen? Graduated from high school? Or college? Maybe just before she was about to get married and realized she wanted her dad to walk her down the aisle?"

"Derek, I was confused and..."

He scoffed, again halting her words. "You've been confused for three years? I'm really not in the mood to listen to you make excuses." Morgan had spent the night at a hotel trying to sort through his scattered emotions. He'd finally managed to get a few hours of sleep and had hoped the morning would shine a more relaxed light on the situation. But seeing Emily again, and remembering the face of his daughter, it all made the anger well up inside him for a second time. "I have some questions for you and I just want some simple answers."

She let out a long breath, trying to let go of her frustration at the same time. Emily realized she really had no one to blame but herself for his irritation. "Okay."

Morgan fiddled with the protective cup-sleeve on his coffee as he looked her in the eye. "What's my daughter's name?"

Emily felt the weight of his sorrow crash down on her in those few words. But a smile spread across her face as she thought about the life they'd created together that night. Whatever pain she'd caused him and herself with that act, Emily didn't regret the result of her actions. "It's Elizabeth, but I call her Beth," she finally revealed. "Her middle name is Francesca. I named her after our mothers."

"Beth," he wore a bittersweet smile as he spoke her name for the first time. Normally that was something a father had a hand in knowing from the start, even to help pick out names. He was touched by her middle name, but Derek felt hurt again as he realized how much he'd missed. "Is her last name Stewart as well?"

"Yes."

"So, you are married. He adopted her?"

She could tell the answer to that question worried him more than any other. "No," Emily shook her head and traced invisible patterns on the table with one finger. "I'm not married. Stewart was my great-grandmother's maiden name. I had mine legally changed when I left the bureau. My parents used a few connections to help me keep it all as quiet as possible since I figured Garcia would get snoopy."

He chuckled softly, though it was not a pleased noise. "Yeah, your parents were very tight lipped every time I tried to contact them. I guess the family that lies for one another sticks together," Derek quipped. "It took Garcia and I three years of searching every Emily that was somehow connected to law enforcement in the US. We even searched some overseas organizations. It was really just a hunt and peck method, but I figured you'd stick with some sort of crime prevention work. So, private detective's license, huh?"

Emily shrugged and sipped her coffee, trying not to be upset by his comment about her and her parents lying for one another. She'd always hated the politics her family had to deal with in their line of work. And now she found she'd done similar things by lying to Derek. She'd hurt him; torn his family apart. She wasn't proud of it. "It seemed like a good idea at the time," Emily tried to focus on his question instead. "I wanted a flexible job, so I could be with Beth as much as possible. I also wanted something that would be low risk. I don't even own a gun. Mostly I get hired by husbands who think their wives are cheating on them, or vise versa. I usually just have to do some surveillance, take a few photos and that's it. And I find a lot of lost pets, too. People really do love their dogs and are willing to pay a lot to get them back."

Realizing he'd gotten off track, Derek's head suddenly became bombarded with a slew of other questions that he was dying to put answers to. "How old is Beth? When is her birthday?" They came out in just about as hurried motion as they were forming in his mind. "How much did she weigh when she was born? What was her first word? When did she start walking?" It pained him to realize he'd missed out on so many firsts in his daughter's life.

"Um," she took a quick breath before diving into those answers. "She was born early on the morning of January 3rd. So, she's just a little over twenty-seven months old now." Emily's face lit up as she recalled that morning; the happiest moment of her life. She glanced over at Derek and saw the look of longing on his face. "Bethy weighed seven pounds, five ounces. She was twenty inches long with a shock of dark hair right from the start." Emily looked him in the eye. "She looked so much like you those first six months. Well, aside from being really pale complexioned."

"When I saw her yesterday, I thought she looked a lot like my mom," Derek recalled.

Emily nodded. "I know, I've seen that too. Guess I picked the right middle name for her."

"Mom's going to be over the moon when she finds out she has a grandbaby."

She smiled, almost thinking they were finally having a civilized moment. But she caught the way his eyes darkened again a few seconds later, probably thinking about having to tell his mother the good news two years past her granddaughter's birth. Emily hated to see him so upset, she hated even more knowing that it was because of her that he felt that way. "Her first word was, duck; as in the ones that swim and quack," she continued. "Second was mama, and third I think was probably shoe. Beth loves to get into my closet and play with all the shoes." Emily chuckled. "She actually didn't start walking until just after her first birthday. I think because she was so good at crawling and could get around really fast that way. She likes to move as fast as possible. Even now she doesn't walk much. It's usually a full on run. I can't even tell you the number of cuts and bruises I've kissed just this past week."

"I want to see her," Derek spoke, abrupt and to the point. As he listened to her go on, all the stories and memories she had of their daughter, he was struck by an almost uncontrollable urge to see the child. He wanted those memories too. He needed to make up for lost time. "I had a turn-around flight scheduled for yesterday, but I changed that. Now I have today and tomorrow before I have to be back at Quantico. And I want to see my daughter." It wasn't so much a question, as a demand being made.

Emily had been expecting that request, actually she'd been hoping for it. "My neighbor, Silvia, is watching her right now because of this," she waved her hand between them to indicate their meeting. "But, I always take Beth to the park after her nap on Saturdays. She loves to feed the ducks, hence her first word. I've been taking her there since she was three months old." Emily grabbed a napkin and fished through her purse for a pen. "You can meet us there at about 2:30 this afternoon." She wrote down the address and slid it across the table to him.

"I'll be there," Derek spoke with promise in his tone. He stood up and grabbed his coffee.

"Derek, wait," Emily jumped up and stopped him from leaving right away. She placed the pen back into her purse and pulled out a medium sized envelope. "These are just a few of the..." she held the item out to him. "Well, I always meant to send them but I... I'd like you to have them now."

He snatched the envelope from her hand and turned, walking away without another word.

xxx

A half hour later the rain had slowed to an even lighter drizzle, just a few drops here and there. Morgan sat on a bench along the shore of Lake Washington and could see a cloud-break in the distance; a little sunshine trying to peek out. He was early to the park, by about three and a half hours. But he really had nowhere else to go, nothing to be done but wait for a chance to see his little girl again. And there was no way he was going to miss that meeting. Derek pulled his jacket tighter and zipped it as a gust of wind blew off the water and sent an icy chill straight through his bones. Even with sun on the horizon it was still plenty cold.

Something made a rustling sound in his jacket and Derek remembered the envelope Emily had given him at the coffee house. He pulled it free and pried it open with his left index finger. A photo spilled out and drifted on the breeze to land at his feet. Derek reached down and picked it up. Then he stared at the baby knowing exactly who she was; his little girl. Beth was probably no more than a few months old in the picture, eyes closed and cloth covered hands resting against her chubby cheeks. Emily had been right, the child in the photo looked a lot like him.

Suddenly curious, he rummaged through the envelope and found other snapshots of his little girl at various stages. There was one of her standing up and holding on to Emily's fingers, looking like she was taking those first few tentative steps. Another picture showed her with chocolate cake smeared across her face. He recognized Emily's mother in the background and a man who was surely her father. The last picture was his favorite of the bunch. Someone had obviously snuck up on the sleeping duo. Beth was laying on Emily's chest, her face turned toward the camera, eyes closed. They both looked so peacefully content.

Morgan put the pictures back and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. He read the letter addressed to him:

_Derek,_

_I think this is probably my twelfth attempt to write you since I found out I was pregnant. The other letters all danced around that issue until the very end, but I'll just say it up front here. It's your baby. Of course, I'm afraid even this note is going to end up in the trash with all the others because I'm too much of a coward to tell you the truth. But something happened just now that prompted me to try again._

_I felt our baby girl kick tonight. It's a girl, by the way. And by the strength of those kicks she'll either be a ballet dancer or an NFL running-back. I felt the first kicks about a month ago and now, every time it happens, the first thing I want to do is find you so you can feel it too. I want to put your hand there on my belly and... And then I realize you're clear across the country and probably curled up in bed with your wife._

_I hate that I want you here so bad. I know you're happy in the life you chose and I still feel guilty for what I did that night. And yet, when I woke up that next morning and saw you sleeping beside me, I wanted you to wake up and ask me to stay. I wanted you to look me in the eye and realize that I was the one you wanted, not her. I was such a fool. But I still wanted to hear that word, just the one; stay._

_I ran instead, because I feared the word would be... go._

He noticed that there was no signature after that, no real ending to the note. But the paper was wrinkled at the bottom, almost as if it had gotten wet somehow. Derek's best guess was that it had been teardrops which warped the paper. Emily's tears. He folded the note up and placed it back in the envelope with the pictures. "I really messed things up too, didn't I, Emily?" he whispered to the wind.

Derek watched the water lap against the shore as he continued to wait.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 3

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Morgan got to his feet when he spotted Emily pushing a stroller down the sidewalk toward him. A quick glance at his watch revealed that it was exactly 2:30pm, the time she'd promised to be there. He hadn't realized until just then that he'd been worried about her taking off and never seeing his daughter again. But that wasn't the case as Derek watched the little girl smile from ear to ear, turning her head to look up at Emily. And Emily leaning down to whisper something that made Beth laugh. He thought they both looked beautiful, especially with how the afternoon sunshine highlighted their dark hair and smiles.

Beth bounced up and down in her seat as they approached. For a moment Derek foolishly thought it was because of him, but then he saw her eyes dart toward the water and plainly heard her excited squeals. "Ducky! Duckies!"

The two of them stopped beside the park bench and Emily turned the stroller away from the water. "She had a good nap and is full of energy," Emily explained, aiming a friendly smile his way. She glanced over and noticed that he looked a lot less pissed-off than he had during their coffee meeting. As he gazed at their daughter, Emily couldn't help thinking that he looked just the same as she remembered the last time she'd seen him three years ago, greeting her at his door that night.

Emily lowered her head and closed her eyes for a moment to dissolve those wandering thoughts. Then she squatted down in front of her daughter. "Bethy, do you remember what I told you earlier about going to meet someone at the park today?"

"Ducky?" Beth asked as she tried to turn around and see the lake.

"No," Emily replied with a small grin. "Not the ducks, we'll see them real soon." She pointed at Derek and invited him closer with the curl of one finger. "Remember, I said we were going to meet your daddy."

"Da-dee," the girl giggled, thinking it was a funny new word. "Da-dee... ducky," she alternated between the two similar words in a sing-song tone, making up a random pattern. "Ducky... da-dee... duck, duck... da!"

Morgan laughed at her goofiness as he got down to eye level with the child. "Hello, Beth. It's so nice to finally meet you," he told her. It felt rather ridiculous talking to his baby girl as if he'd just greeted a casual new acquaintance.

Beth watched him with intent, cautious eyes. She held one hand over her mouth for a moment, suddenly looking rather shy. When she dropped it, a single word floated out toward him in a silky-soft voice. "Hi."

He thought his heart might burst in that second as he returned the word to her. "Hi, sweetheart." Derek watched Emily, a little nervous that she was judging his every move. But he noticed that she was smiling, seeming pleased to watch their interaction. He was immensely grateful as he reached out and gently ran his fingers along Beth's soft cheek. Growing braver by the second, Derek leaned in and kissed her forehead. When Beth giggled, he felt laughter bubble up from a deeply buried corner of his heart. "You're a silly girl, aren't you?" he asked, tickling her under one arm.

She laughed again; a big belly laugh. Her mouth opened wider to reveal a pristine white smile; baby teeth clenched in a cheesy grin. Beth reached out and grabbed his left thumb, squeezing his meaty digit with her much smaller hand. "Duckies?"

"Do you want to go feed the ducks?" he asked.

A resounding, "Yes!" slipped past her lips.

Derek grinned, thinking he hadn't really smiled properly in a long time. "Well, you've been very patient so I think we should go see them now," he nodded and turned toward Emily. "Could I take her by myself?" It felt odd, having to ask permission. He also saw the instant reluctance that shimmered behind her dark eyes. "We'll be in your line of sight the whole time. I swear to you, I'm not going to try and run away with her."

His words felt like a punch in the stomach to Emily, but she could understand where he was coming from. "Alright," she reached in to unfasten Beth from the stroller. "But, when I let her out of here she is going to run straight toward the lake," Emily inclined her head toward the large body of water. "And you need to stop her before she gets there, because she will try to jump in. She loves the water, no matter how cold it is outside."

"Right, chase and stop the two year old," he replied in understanding. "That won't be hard."

Emily made a small derisive noise low in her throat. "Oh, you'd be surprised," she told him, plopping a bag of stale bread into his right hand.

A few moments later, Derek realized what she meant as Beth was free and running headlong toward the water. He'd chased countless numbers of suspects through forests, up and down hilly terrain and even across rooftops. But he actually had to sprint in order to chase after his two year old daughter. Morgan caught her about one foot away from the water's edge and scooped her up into his arms. "Gotcha!"

Beth laughed for a moment, but immediately looked around. "Mama?" She starred past his shoulder, tears welling in the corners or her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay," his voice took on a softer tone than he'd ever imagined possible. It was as if his daddy comforting-tone had just kicked in out of the blue. "Mama is right there," he turned Beth so she could see Emily sitting on the park bench. Derek swore he could see Emily chewing her lip and wringing her hands. For a moment he felt like a mean old ogre. But the feeling passed when he remembered all the things he'd missed in Beth's life because of what Emily had done. It was time he had a chance to start making some memories of his own.

"Duckies?" Beth asked.

Derek was grateful that Beth's desire to see the ducks outweighed the one to return to her mother's side. He put her down on her feet and squatted behind her. Morgan kept her aimed toward the water and nestled between his thighs so she wouldn't be likely to run off. He opened the bread bag and fished out a slice then began to break off pieces. Morgan placed a few in Beth's little hand and watched as the ducks swam toward her. "Look, that one's a daddy duck," he pointed out the colorful one that reached them first. He didn't have to coax her into tossing the bread in, she seemed to be an old pro at that.

"Da-dee duck," Beth repeated after him.

"And there's a mama duck," Morgan pointed out the drabber, brown colored mallard. "Do you know what sound a duck makes?"

"Cak-cak!" she replied.

He chuckled. "Aren't you a smart one?" Derek really didn't know what level of things two year olds knew, but it seemed to him she was advanced. Or maybe every parent felt that way; wanted to believe their child was more perfect than any other. As he continued to play with and watch her, Derek certainly felt that Beth was about the most perfect child he'd ever laid eyes on.

Beth was pretty well content to stand there and watch the ducks with him, even after all their bread was gone. She would turn and sneak a peek under his arm every few minutes, making sure Emily was still sitting on the bench. Then she'd cock her head and stare up at him, flash a toothy grin his way and return her eyes toward the water and make more duck quaking sounds. Occasionally she'd make a bold move and try to stomp one or both sneaker-clad feet in the water. But Derek was too quick for her, making sure she stayed dry.

Dirt, however, was another story. Beth's hands were covered in the sandy earth that lined the lake shore. His were rather messy too as they drew geometric shapes and pictures with their fingers. He even attempted to make up stories to go along with their creations, but soon realized he was not much of a storyteller. It was something he suddenly wanted to be better at, for his daughter's sake. Derek wasn't sure how long they'd been there, over an hour at least, when Beth finally decided she'd had enough. "Da-dee... miss mama," she looked toward the bench again.

"Okay, kiddo, let's go see mama," Derek agreed. He couldn't help being immensely proud that she already knew who he was. Or at least, she knew to call him daddy. It would undoubtedly take a lot longer for her to realize his importance in her life, but he was glad for their first efforts in cementing that new bond. He got to his feet and looked down at her. "I'll race you." Those were obviously words she already knew, because Beth took off toward Emily just as fast as she'd ran down there.

Emily greeted her daughter with a kiss and wet wipes at the ready. She plucked a few from the package before handing them over to Derek. He washed his hands as he watched Emily clean Beth up. The girl was practically climbing her mother like a jungle gym the whole time, not caring if her hands got clean. Morgan couldn't help notice how calm Emily seemed, taking it all in stride. "It's only a quarter to four," Emily said as she plunked Beth down into the stroller and handed the girl two crackers, one for each hand. She turned her head toward Derek. "We could go play on the s-w-i-n-g-s," she suggested.

Derek nodded his agreement, happy to draw out the meeting as long as possible. He smiled to hear her spell out the word. It seemed like such a mom thing to do. He was surprised that he'd never really thought of her as the mommy type. Sure, she'd always been good with the kids they worked with. Emily had sort of just fallen into being the team's child victim expert. But she'd also been really dedicated to the job, jumping into the thick of things with both feet first. Morgan didn't think there was much room for a family in that kind of mind-set, at least that had always been his mantra. Now he realized he'd projected that view onto Emily as well.

When they arrived at the play area, Beth once again clamored to be set free. Emily did so this time with less reserve. She let Beth take off and flashed Derek a look that told him he was on again. Derek gladly accepted the opportunity to play with his daughter some more. He chased after her for a while, making sure she didn't get kicked or knocked down by the older kids. She went down the slide on his lap a few times and then Derek spent over an hour pushing her in one of the toddler swings. As he stood in front of her and pushed each time the swing neared him, Derek watched her smile and giggle. He found himself wearing a silly grin the whole time.

At five-thirty, Emily let him know they needed to get going. Derek felt a little sick to his stomach, not wanting to say good-bye so soon. "I want to see her again. My flight doesn't leave until 10:30 tomorrow night, so I'll have the whole day free," he let her know. He stood there waiting, knowing he was at her mercy. Derek almost felt like a prisoner hoping to have some more supervised visitation time with his child.

"Well, tomorrow is kind of a messed-up day for me," Emily replied. "I don't usually meet with clients on Sundays, but this one guy couldn't meet me any other day this week and Silvia said she'd watch Beth for me, so..."

"I could watch Beth for you," Derek suggested.

She looked a little apprehensive, but tried not to dismiss the idea completely. "Seriously? It would probably be for a few hours and you'd have to feed her lunch and put her down for a nap."

"I can handle all of that," he instantly assured her. On the inside Derek didn't have a clue how he'd do any of it, but he was willing to try. He thought that had to count for something. "I really want to spend as much time with her as I can, because once I go back to Virginia..." he sighed. "Who knows when I'll see her next."

Emily knew he was trying hard to stay in her good graces for their daughter's sake. And for three years she'd wanted him to know about Beth. It seemed it was time for father and daughter to have some real time together. "My meeting is in West Seattle, so I have to leave at about eleven. Can you be at the house by 10:30? That way I can go over some things with you before I leave," she suggested.

He nodded. "I'll be there at 10:30." Derek looked down at Beth who was seated in the stroller again. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I love you, sweetheart. And I'll see you tomorrow, okay. Bye, baby girl," Derek waved as he stood up to full height.

"Bye-bye," Beth waved back.

"See you tomorrow," Emily said to him as she took off, pushing the stroller in front of her.

Derek watched them go, feeling heavy-hearted, wishing he was going home with them. He watched as Beth turned around and looked back at him. She waved again and he could hear her sweet voice say, "Bye," one more time.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 4

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Derek followed Emily through her house on Sunday morning. It was a small craftsman circa the 1920s, if he wasn't mistaken. There were just two bedrooms and one bathroom nestled between them. The living room was modestly sized with a fireplace. A small kitchen sat toward the rear of the house with a dinning area attached and a back door that opened on to a bricked patio. The home's decor consisted mostly of wood furniture, earth-tone colored walls and black and white framed photographs. And at the two foot level of the living room walls, several pieces of construction paper were tacked up; splattered with primary paint colored hand prints and random squiggles.

As Emily led the tour she had a permanent shadow in the form of a toddler. Beth poked her head around to stare at Derek from time to time, but mostly kept her face buried against Emily's right leg. "Why are you being so shy today?" Emily finally asked as they congregated in the kitchen. She lifted Beth and settled her on one hip. "Remember yesterday when you fed the ducks with daddy?"

Beth was more confident in her mother's embrace and flashed him a small smile. "Hi, daddy."

Emily grinned proudly as she turned to Derek. "We've been practicing pronunciation this morning."

"Hi, munchkin." He reached out to run a hand over Beth's soft head of hair. "You're a smart girl just like your mama, aren't you?"

"Smargirl," Beth repeated, mashing the words together as she chewed on her left index finger.

"Okay," Emily picked up her previous rundown of everything under the sun that she could think to tell Derek. "Silvia Bowen lives in the dark green two-story house to the left of us and she'll be home this afternoon. I already told her you'll be here with Beth. Her number is on the emergency contact list by the phone, along with the pediatrician and my cell. So, do you have any questions?" she asked, glancing at the microwave clock across the room to check the time.

Derek realized he did have one. "Is she potty trained?"

"We're working on that."

"Meaning... I'll need to change some diapers?"

Emily could see that he looked a little worried about that and she almost wanted to renege on her promise of allowing him to baby-sit. But she decided to give him plenty of leeway. "She wears a pull-up diaper. It's kind of like underwear to get her introduced to the idea. Usually before her nap and bedtime I'll sit her down on the potty. Sometimes she'll go, sometimes she wont. Sometimes she'll even come up to me and tell me she has to go, but that usually means she already has."

"And the answer to my original question?" Derek felt more confused than before.

She nodded. "Yes, you'll probably have to change her before she goes down for a nap."

He digested the answer, figuring he'd cross that bridge when it started burning. "Okay, and lunch?"

"She'll probably just want juice and crackers, but I try to get some protein in her and a veggie if I can. There's sliced deli turkey and some left over peas from last night's dinner that you can reheat. She loves fruit and we have strawberries in the fridge. There's also canned peaches and pears in the cupboard. But, honestly, if all she'll eat for you is juice and crackers, it's not the end of the world. Some days I make sure she has her chewable vitamins and then just hope for the best," Emily shrugged.

Derek felt a little more at ease to hear her say that. "And when is nap time?"

"Right after lunch, but some days she wont go down at all."

"So, if she doesn't nap that's okay?"

"It is," Emily replied. "She'll probably be crabby tonight, but that happens. If she doesn't go down, you can play in the back yard if the weather stays nice like this. There's a s-w-i-n-g out there and she would be on it twenty-four hours a day if I had the time and patients to push her for that long," she glanced at the clock again. "I really need to get going," she looked to Beth. The girl's big eyes revealed to Emily that she knew what was going on, and she didn't look entirely happy about it. "You be good for daddy, okay?" Emily kissed her cheek and handed her off to Derek. "She likes to watch me leave from the front window."

The two of them followed Emily to the door, Derek trying to hold on to the wiggling toddler. Emily grabbed her bag, gave Beth one last kiss and then was out the door in a flash. Derek finally put Beth down and watched her race to the window, standing tiptoed to look over the sill. He stood behind her and they both waved to Emily as her dark blue Subaru reversed out of the driveway. When she was out of sight, Beth turned around and stared up at him. Her bottom lip trembled and Derek saw the tears pooled in her eyes. Before he could try to distract her, the sobs came as she cried for her mama.

xxx

Two and a half hours after she'd left, Emily closed the front door of her home, happy to be back. She paused for a moment. It was very quiet, which was not typical when living with a two year old. A brief flash of panic gripped her, but she quickly stuffed it down and was able to be impressed, figuring Derek had managed to get Beth to take a nap. As she moved into the living room she was greeted by a gorgeous site. Derek was sprawled on the sofa, eyes closed and snoring softly as Beth laid on his chest, also completely zonked out. She watched them for a minute, trying to imprint the image in her memory for all time. Then another idea came to her.

She kicked off her shoes and pealed off her jacket, stowing them both in the hall closet. Then Emily grabbed her camera bag on the top shelf. She fished out the camera, an item that she used primarily for work; snapping shots of wives cheating on their husbands and husbands kissing their secretaries in seedy motels on their lunch hour. But she also used it to capture special moments in her daughter's life, from big events to the mundane. Now, as she stood beside Derek and Beth, she took several snaps of their first nap together. It was a big event, but also a simple, quiet moment.

Until her right heel connected with the wood coffee table and made a soft, but distinct, thud. She hopped over to the desk, sat her camera down and then rubbed the sore spot on her foot. When she looked up a few seconds later, Emily caught Derek staring at her, eyes blinking back sleep as one hand rested protectively against Beth's back. "Sorry," she whispered to him. "Why don't you put her in her bed. She'll probably sleep a little longer," Emily suggested.

Derek followed through and rejoined Emily in the living room a few minutes later. He sat down on the opposite end of the sofa from her. "The second you were out of sight she started crying," he told her, feeling like he was eight years old again and confessing to his parish priest about stealing a pack of gum at the gas station.

"How long?" Emily asked. "Not the whole time, I hope?"

"No, uh... for a while," he replied. "But she ate some turkey and maybe one pea for lunch. Other than that, mostly crackers and juice." Derek watched as she smiled softly to hear the report, but she seemed a little out of sorts. "Are you okay?" he asked. "How did your meeting go?"

Emily sighed. "Not great."

"Guy was cheating on his wife?"

"No, guy hired me to find out if his wife was cheating on him."

He could tell by the tone of her voice that something else was afoot. "So, she was?" Derek tried to keep their conversation rolling.

She shook her head. "Nope. But she was sneaking around behind his back. I found out that she has terminal lung cancer and was going to her oncologist without telling her husband. So, I ended up being the one to tell him that his wife is dying. And I sat with him for about an hour and a half while he cried and practically told me their whole life story. I tried not to take his check, but he insisted, saying that I'd done the job he hired me for." Emily took a shaky breath. "I think I'm just going to donate the money to the Seattle Cancer Treatment Center," she concluded.

"I'm sorry," Derek attempted to think of something more comforting to say, but nothing was forthcoming.

"Yeah, who knew that private detectives were meant to have psychology degrees?" Emily chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. She watched as he pulled his shoes out from underneath the sofa and started to put them on. "You don't have to leave," Emily let him know. "I'm going to make dinner tonight. Some grilled chicken, roasted potatoes and steamed carrots. Basically, boring bland kid-food," she shrugged. "But you're welcome to join us and you can entertain Beth while I cook."

Derek wasn't sure what to say. "I don't know if I should."

"You told me yesterday that your flight doesn't leave until 10:30?" She watched as he nodded an affirmation. "Well, we eat at six and Beth will be in bed by eight. So, even if you left here right after that you'd have plenty of time to catch your plane. I thought maybe you'd like to tuck her in tonight." Emily saw the yearning in his eyes as she made that suggestion. "You can go check out of the hotel right now while she's still napping and..."

"Actually, I had to check out this morning before I came here," Derek said.

"Then you have nowhere else to be," Emily made it sound final.

She was right, he had nowhere else to be. There was nowhere else he wanted to be either. Beth woke up a half hour later. The two of them played out in the yard, mostly on the swing and rolling a ball back and forth. Beth was sure to keep checking that Emily was inside, making sure her mom didn't sneak off on her again. And Emily's meal that night was better than she'd made it out to sound. Derek couldn't even recall the last home cooked meal he'd eaten. It had probably been something of his mother's during the annual birthday visit four months ago. Now he was sitting with Emily and Beth at their small table, sharing a meal with them. It seemed unreal.

"Bethy, take smaller bites please," Emily instructed the girl as she cut more chicken to put on the child's plate. "And chew slowly."

Derek grinned, watching the two of them interact. "Is this typical mealtime conversation?"

"With a two year old, yes," Emily nodded as she resumed eating her own food. "She always wants to do everything so fast. Some nights I'll watch her sleep for a while and I whisper to her subconscious: don't be in such a hurry to grow up_. _Sometimes it feels like just yesterday that I was holding her in the crook of my arm and nursing her. And some days I'm sure she's going to walk through the front door with her boyfriend or kids of her own in tow." She looked over and caught Derek staring at her. "What? Do I have food on my face?"

"No," his eyes moved to Beth. "It's just... the two of you look so much alike. But then I see those flashes of my mom and I, even my sisters."

"I know, I see my parents in her too," Emily replied. "Sometimes I call her my chameleon baby."

"Meleon!" Beth repeated, giggling.

After dinner Derek helped with bath time, washing off sticky potatoes that had gone down the front of Beth's shirt. He watched as she excitedly splashed in the water for a while, but by the end her eyes were already starting to drop. And when he plucked her from the tub her head suddenly seemed too heavy for her shoulders to support. Emily diapered, while Derek managed to wrestle a pair of pink and white striped pajamas on the little girl. They put her down together; kissed her, made sure her stuffed rabbit was tucked in close, turned off the light and left the door open a crack as they retreated to the living room.

"Explain the rabbit to me," Derek said when they were alone. "With her obvious love of ducks, it seems like she should have a stuffed one of those instead."

Emily chuckled. "She did have a little yellow one for a while, but by the time she turned a year old it had been drooled on, sucked on and puked on so much that it had to go to stuffed animal heaven," she let him know. "I want to get her a new one that looks more like the ducks we see at the lake, but everything I find is usually florescent or neon colored."

"I see," he nodded, while thinking about making it his mission to find the perfect stuffed duck for his daughter. It was already eight o'clock and Derek figured he should be on his way, but Emily asked him to wait a minute as she searched through a cabinet for something.

Emily presented a photo album to him. "For you to keep," she announced. "A lot of them I took and developed myself. I have a dark room in the basement. It's nice to go down there at night after Beth is asleep; helps me unwind." She flipped through the book and showed him one picture in particular. "My dad took this one. Beth was less than an hour old there, a bundle of slimy perfection. She barely even cried that day, already looking alert and ready to face the world. My parents cried, though, and so did I. Mostly I cried because I knew you should have been there too."

Derek couldn't say exactly how it happened, all he knew was that suddenly they were kissing, the photo album crushed between them. Their kiss tasted like the past and present all coiled into one complicated mess. It was bliss and agony. But the real truth was that he could see the future in that kiss too, a future where Emily and Beth fit perfectly into his life. It wasn't complicated at all. But he pulled away from her, fearing that future couldn't exist, because he'd never known a perfectly happy family like that. "I want a paternity test," he announced.

"Excuse me?" Emily's brows bunched together. The warmth where his lips had just touched hers suddenly turned to ice as reality came crashing down upon her shoulders again. "Derek, you've seen her, you even said she looks like your family. We were just talking about..."

"I'm not denying that she's mine," he explained. "But I want to make sure all my bases are covered, so legally and financially I have a leg to stand on."

She was still trying to fight down the desire she'd felt in their kiss, and couldn't seem to reconcile that feeling with his unexpected hostile shift. "I don't want money from you, Derek. And I admit that not telling you was a huge mistake on my part, something that I will always regret, but now that you know her and she knows you I'm not going to stand in your way of having a relationship with her."

"How do I know that?" he came back defensive, squeezing the photo album in his right hand. "How do I know you're not going to pack up and disappear again as soon as I'm back in Virginia?"

"Because I wouldn't do that to you," Emily replied.

He sighed. "Really? What assurance do I have? Your word? You'll have to forgive me if that's just not enough, because all I know is that you took off three years ago without telling me about Beth. Given that history, I figure you're liable to do just about anything."

She could understand the accusation, though she thought they'd gotten past most of that, but the venom in his words frightened her. "Why are you being such a..."

"What, a bastard?" Derek cut her off as he felt the avalanche in his heart continue its downhill slide. "Well, I never figured any child of mine would be a bastard either, but I guess we don't always get what we want do we?"

Her jaw clenched and Emily felt like there was a marble stuck in her throat. "A jerk," she finally bit off the words. "I was going to say, jerk."

"Emily..." She looked like she wanted to punch him in the face and he really wished she would. He'd regretted the words as soon as they'd escaped his mouth. He didn't mean them, but he couldn't stuff them back in either. He wasn't even that upset at her. More than anything else, he was scared. He was so afraid of never seeing either one of them again, and his fear kept manifesting itself as anger. Now he feared his temper had just crossed a line that could never be erased.

"You need to leave," Emily told him.

One slow nod of his head heeded her warning, but he pressed his luck. "Can I at least say good-bye to Beth?" Silence was his answer, her dark eyes blazing. He interpreted her silence as acquiescence and made a move toward Beth's room. She shadowed his every step as he continued forward. He could sense her eyes on him from the doorway as he knelt beside the small white bed in Beth's lavender room. Derek gently placed his hand against the sleeping girl's forehead. "I love you, sweetheart." With that, he kissed her, got to his feet again and promptly let himself out of the house.

He felt a tear roll down his cheek somewhere along the drive to the airport. And the memory of crying just after his father's funeral filled his head. It had only happened once, in the privacy of his bedroom; fat tears soaking his pillow. He'd mourned the loss of his father in a half hour, dried those tears and then vowed to be strong from then on; the man of the house for his mother and sisters. Now he mourned for having been such a naive child, thinking he could take his father's place. He also mourned for being a naive adult, thinking he could find Emily and pick up where they'd left off three years ago.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 5

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Derek swallowed two ibuprofen with a chug of lukewarm coffee and then headed down the hall toward the conference room. He had a horrible headache; undoubtedly a combination of no sleep and guilt. But mostly guilt. He'd been hoping to sleep on his overnight flight back to Virginia, but after the way things had ended with Emily he'd spent the whole flight wide awake. Derek had gone over everything in his head a dozen times and still hadn't been able to figure out how his mouth had let those terrible words escape. He'd landed at 7am eastern time and decided not to bother going home. After a shower and change in the BAU locker room, Morgan gulped down a whole pot of coffee and hid in his office until their daily meeting started.

He walked into the BAU room, trying to hold his head up high in an attempt to fool his colleagues. But the first comment out of Rossi's mouth told him he'd failed at that too. "You look like hell," Dave noted.

"Thanks," Derek replied as he slipped into the chair beside Reid. He glanced around and noticed that everyone was there except for Hotch.

JJ sat forward in her seat. "So..."

Morgan could tell that her word was directed at him. "So, what?"

"Garcia told me this morning that you took Friday off because of another Emily phantom chase, this time in Seattle." JJ tried to make light of the situation, because after three years they'd all pretty much become resigned to the fact that Emily didn't want to be found, and therefore never would be. It was mostly a matter of not getting their hopes up, just to have them dashed again.

"I saw her in Seattle, even talked to her," Derek replied, somewhat cryptically, not wanting to go into detail. He could see the surprise on everyone's faces, much the same as his face when Emily had opened her door to him four days ago.

"Really?" Reid was instantly curious about his missing friend. He'd gone through a period of feeling betrayed by her leaving, because it had felt a lot like Gideon's abrupt departure. Although Emily hadn't even left him, or anyone on the team, a note. But he'd worked past that hurt feeling and for most of the last three years he'd been more concerned than anything. Even now, as a bunch of different questions plagued his mind about Emily, one outweighed them all. "Is she okay?"

"She's... fine," Morgan replied.

Hotch joined them a second after that. He too noticed Derek's tired, but mostly forlorn, appearance. "Long weekend didn't exactly go well, I take it?"

"He found Emily," Rossi replied in Morgan's stead.

"In Seattle," Reid added.

The team leader barely blinked. "And she's..."

Morgan sighed. "She's fine." He turned his head toward JJ. "Don't we have a briefing to get to?"

JJ nodded, grabbed the remote in front of her and stood. Everyone diligently focused on work as they proceeded with the meeting, but they all had a pretty good feeling that Derek's standard answer of, _she's fine_, was only telling a very small portion of the story.

xxx

"Daddy ducky," Beth said as she tried to scoop scrambled eggs up with the spoon in her left hand. After her third attempt she abandoned the spoon and opted for using her fingers, which had so far never let her down. "Daddy swing... daddy play..." she continued to jabber on, even as she stuffed eggs into her mouth.

Emily flipped through the pages in her daily planner, checking what she had scheduled for Monday. She sat beside Beth, but tried hard to tune out what her daughter was talking about. "Please don't speak with your mouth full, baby," she gently reminded the child, the way she'd done so many times before. Sometimes it felt like talking to a brick wall. Which wasn't too far off from what it had felt like talking to Derek recently.

"Daddy feed duckies..." the girl continued her rambling thoughts. "Daddy push... swing..."

Just about every other word out of Beth's mouth that morning, since the moment she'd woken up, had been: daddy. And so far, Emily had been successfully avoiding the topic. But that obviously wasn't going to work very well. She rested her fork on the side of her plate, took a deep breath and turned to the child. "Bethy, daddy's not here today. Daddy went home and we're probably not going to see daddy for... well, maybe not for a while," Emily told her.

"Roll ball?" Beth asked. "Daddy roll."

"Sweetie," Emily sighed, trying to find some way to explain the situation to the two year old.

Beth picked up her spoon again, but not with any intention of using it for eating. She banged it against her plate as loudly as possible. "Swing!" she squealed. "Daddy push... daddy ducky..." Beth tapped the utensil against her plate after each pause. "Daddy feed... daddy ball... daddy swing..."

"Daddy's not going to play with you today!" Emily finally shouted. An instant later she clamped a hand over her mouth. "Oh, God," she moaned, watching Beth as she sat there in her booster seat, hand raised with her tiny fingers wrapped around the spoon. Beth didn't cry, though, she just looked bewildered. And Emily felt like the worst mother in the world. "I'm sorry baby, I am so sorry." She remembered thinking that the one thing she'd never do as a parent was raise her voice at her child the way her parents sometimes had.

"No cry..." Beth reached out to touch Emily's cheek were a tear had fallen. "Mama... no cry."

Emily held Beth's little hand to her lips. She kissed each finger and the palm, apologizing again without words. "You know what? Mama doesn't have a meeting today until this evening," Emily let go of the small hand and wiped away her tear. "Why don't we play on the swing and mama will push you as long as you want. And we can plant the sweet peas in the garden and play with the ball too. Okay?"

"Mama play," Beth smiled as she tried her luck with using the spoon again to scoop up her breakfast.

The eggs on Emily's plate got pushed around some more as she tried to forgive herself for yelling at her daughter.

xxx

After their briefing that morning, which didn't result in them taking on a new case, Derek retreated to his office and sat behind the closed door for several hours catching up on paper work. That afternoon, a few more ibuprofen and several more cups of coffee later, Garcia knocked at his door and stuck her head in. Derek glanced up at her. "You told JJ about me going to Seattle?" he asked.

Penelope took that as her cue to step fully into his office. "Was that supposed to be some big secret?" She pulled out the chair in front of him and sunk in to it, regarding her friend's ragged appearance. "You don't look so good. What happened in Seattle?"

"You mean you haven't talked to JJ since our meeting?"

"Nope, I've been working all morning," Garcia replied, sensing that he was avoiding her questions. "Spill, secret agent-man."

Derek decided the direct approach was best. "Emily Stewart is in fact, Emily Prentiss," he told her.

"Wow," Garcia nodded. She really hadn't been expecting such good news. Although the look on Derek's face told her that maybe it wasn't the happy news they'd been hoping for. "So, why do you look like someone just died? What's she been doing all this time?"

"Keeping secrets," Morgan replied.

Garcia's brows furrowed. "What does that mean? Some sort of witness protection type thing, or..."

"No," he shook his head, reaching for the top desk drawer. He opened it and pulled out the small photo album that Emily had given him the night before. "I told you about what happened between Emily and I before she took off, all of it," Morgan watched as Garcia nodded. She was the only one he'd ever confessed that secret to. "Well, this is what Emily has been keeping from me for three years." He handed the book to her.

"She's been taking pictures?" Penelope asked, seeing the first image but not really focusing on it. A few seconds later, after turning the pages in rapid succession, she looked up at Derek with her mouth hanging open. "Oh my God," she finally said, understanding dawning. "This is... oh my God, Derek. You have a kid?"

He couldn't help smiling as he thought about his little girl. "Her name is Beth."

"Aww," Garcia looked at all the pictures again. "She is the most adorable, cute, darling little thing. I want to squish her and kiss those sweet cheeks," she gushed. Penelope aimed her eyes at Derek again. "You and Emily made one gorgeous baby. I have to say, I'm a bit jealous," she winked, letting him know the last few words were just a joke. "Seriously, this has got to be the best news."

"How is that?"

She stared at him like he was a little bit mad. "Well, obviously Emily has to move back here now so the two of you can raise this sweet baby girl of yours."

Morgan scoffed. "Garcia, what kind of Disneyland fantasy world do you live in?" he questioned her. "Emily lied to me, for three years about this... about my daughter."

"Okay, I get that..." her voice remained calm, like she was dealing with a petulant child. "I know the two of you have issues, like the fact that you are both too stubborn and proud to actually admit that you have feelings for one another." She rolled her eyes at the stunned look on his face. "But this is a child we're talking about here, and you need to raise her together. Maybe not in the same house, but at least in the same general vicinity, because Seattle is way the heck across the country. Granted, that will get you some nice frequent flier miles, but it's gonna be hell on you as far as having any actual daddy time with Her Royal Highness; The Princess of Cute-dom."

He smiled again for a second, but the expression waned. "Yeah, well that's probably all a non-issue at this point, after the way I left things with Emily."

Penelope frowned, fearing she wasn't going to like the answer to her next question. "And how did you leave things with her?"

Derek sighed, knowing his best friend would have plenty to say about his behavior. But he told her anyway, needing to get it off his chest. He launched into a full tale of every little detail about his trip, from the first second he'd seen Emily on her hands and knees cleaning up Cheerios, to the last second when he'd seen the disappointment flash behind her silent brown eyes. Now, as Derek sat waiting for some reaction, he watched a silent Garcia. "And you're not saying anything either."

"Nope, I'm looking for evidence."

"Evidence of what?"

She cocked her head to the left for a moment and then to the right. "Bruises, scratch marks, maybe a bullet hole through your shoulder..." Garcia rattled off the many possible wounds. "But you look relatively unscathed. Emily must be going soft, because I'd have decked you."

He almost laughed, believing with all his heart that Garcia would have done just that. "Trust me, P... I didn't go unscathed." If the feeling in the pit of his stomach was any indication, Derek had born the brunt of his own words worse than Emily.

"So, what possessed you to be such a jerk?"

Morgan couldn't help love her straightforwardness. "I don't know, pick an emotion; anger, hurt, fear. I was scared. I was terrified of never seeing them again."

She shook her head at him. "Grow up."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I said grow up," Penelope repeated.

"So, I'm not allowed to have feelings?" he asked. "I love you, girl, but don't quit your day job, because you'd make a lousy therapist."

Garcia smiled. "Yeah, well I'm not getting paid for this, am I? And, yes, of course you're allowed to have feelings. I'm sorry. But you have a daughter, Derek. You're a dad. The days of self pity and those knee-jerk reactions you're prone to are over now. You need to be a man and take care of your responsibilities. I know what Emily did to you was horrible. She shouldn't have lied about something like this. But you need to work past those surface feelings of yours, because they're not going to get you anywhere. You need to figure out what it is you really want out of life."

Derek reclined in his chair. "I want to see my daughter again. How do I do that?"

"First and foremost, you do anything and everything it takes to get back into Emily's good graces, because she's pretty much your only ticket to having any relationship with your daughter. You beg, barter, plead... get down on your knees and grovel." Garcia opened the album again and showed Derek a picture of Beth with a huge toothless grin on her face. "She's worth falling on your pride-sword. And if you and Emily hurt this precious little creature with your petty bickering, I'll hurt you," Penelope vowed.

xxx

Derek stayed at work a lot later than usual, catching up on some things he'd missed by being gone on Friday. He finally switched from coffee to water at about 4pm and was feeling a little less shaky. At nine o'clock he stumbled through the door of his apartment, flicked on the light and stared at his boring walls which didn't show any sign of toddler artwork. He found a boxed meal in his freezer and tossed it into the microwave, waiting the requisite amount of time for it to "cook". The lasagna tasted like salty cardboard and his silent apartment practically echoed the sigh of his loneliness. He longed to hear Emily tell Beth not to eat so fast. And to listen as Beth repeated every other word out of her mother's mouth.

After the cardboard-lasagna had gone cold, he threw it in the trash and sat down at his desk. A laptop was open in front of him and he waited for it to boot up as he stared at the phone to his left. Derek picked it up and dialed her number, but he ended the call before it went through. "Shit," he mumbled to himself.

The cordless phone slipped back into the cradle and he rubbed a hand over his head as he stared at the internet search page. Derek typed in the words: stuffed duck. He immediately got a list of recipes for the preparation of duck. A small smile curled his lips. He then typed in toy at the end of those two words and hit enter again. The second search revealed several pictures of stuffed yellow ducks, and cartoon character ducks; Donald, Daisy and Daffy. "No neon colors... something more like the ones at the lake," he recalled Emily's words.

In between the words stuffed and duck he typed in: mallard. He didn't really expect anything to turn up, but a second later his page was filled with mallard duck images. And a lot of them were stuffed animals. The first looked almost exactly like a real duck, but it also seemed a little too real. The fourth image caught his eye and he grinned, clicking on the picture to get to the website. Derek was practically ecstatic to see that it was available for purchase online. The mallard looked real enough, but had just enough cute, cuddly character to be a toy he thought his little girl would love.

He quickly filled out the order form, putting in Emily's address for delivery, and even paid extra for next day shipping. When the order was final, Derek realized buying his way back into Beth's life was not the solution. He also heard Garcia's words in his head, telling him to grow up. Derek starred at the phone again but hesitated because it was so late, until he remembered it was four hours earlier there and Emily would still be awake. With no excuses left, he finally picked up the phone and hit redial. Morgan waited through six rings and then heard her voicemail message play.

_"...and I'll get back to you."_

"Emily, hi... it's me, Derek. I'm kind of glad I got your voicemail because I'm sure you'd probably just hang up on me, and you'd have every right. I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am about last night, for what I said. I didn't mean it, but that still doesn't make it right. And I don't want any stupid paternity test either. I know that Beth is my daughter and all I want right now is to find out if I have any shot of seeing her again. However you want to work this out, I'm willing to meet you half way. Just please, give me a call back when you get this message."

Derek hung up the phone, hoping that was enough apology to at least reopen the lines of communication between them.

xxx

Emily glanced around the small parking lot and held her bag close as she walked to her car. There was still plenty of light in the evening sky, but years worth of law enforcement work had caused her to always be hyper aware of her surroundings. The meeting with her client had gone later than she'd planned. Dinner with Beth was no longer an option since it would take her another half hour or longer, depending on traffic, to get home. But she could at least make it back in time to tuck her daughter in to bed. Emily recalled how the bedtime ritual had been changed the night before by Derek's inclusion. Those thoughts clouded her head as she settled into her car and locked the doors. She was just about to start the vehicle when her cell phone rang.

Glad that she wasn't on the road yet, Emily picked up the device to check who was calling. She figured it was Silvia checking to see when she'd be back, but saw instead that it was Derek. Emily sighed, letting it ring for a moment. "Speak of the devil," she whispered. "Or, rather... think." Emily had spent over two hours in her dark room Sunday night, performing some picture developing therapy and trying to calm down after Derek had left. Her afternoon spent playing with Beth had also helped heal her disappointment, both in Derek and in herself . She knew it would be best for Beth if they worked through their troubles sooner rather than later. With a deep breath, Emily finally decided to answer.

But the sound of shattering glass and the touch of a strangers gloved hand, one at the back of her neck and one over her mouth, caused Emily to drop the phone. It all happened so fast she could barely think, let alone react. Emily gripped the steering wheel, digging her nails in as she tried to turn her head and catch some small glimpse of her attacker. She was in a horribly un-defendable position, though, the way she was seated. If she let go of the wheel she could try to pry his hand off her mouth and scream for help, or she could use the free hand to start her car and maybe put it in gear and hit the gas peddle. Both options were a long shot, but she had to at least try.

The second her right hand let go, the attacker gained enough leverage to bash her head against the steering wheel. Emily didn't have time to lament her decision as her head collided with the wheel a second time, and then a third as well. The man, she assumed it was a man from the strength of his grip, said nothing but removed his hand from her mouth as he pushed her head against the wheel yet again. Emily thought about offering him her cash or the car, but she had a feeling he wasn't the type of assailant interested in such things. Besides that, she couldn't even seem to form words as her skull throbbed and blood trickled down the right side of her face.

As Emily felt her conscious mind rapidly retreat to a darker place, her last thoughts were of how she was going to miss saying goodnight to Beth.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 6

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Derek drank down the last drop of orange juice and rinsed his glass out in the sink. After all the coffee he'd downed the day before, he decided to start off with something a little tamer for his Tuesday morning; a natural-sugar rush rather than a caffeine fix. A glance at his watch revealed that it was just after 9am, which meant he was running a little late. He'd stayed up well past midnight, hoping to hear back from Emily, but she hadn't called. Derek tried to reason that maybe she'd thought he'd be asleep, but in the back of his mind he feared she was still too angry to even speak to him.

When his cell rang just as he was about to exit the apartment, Derek noticed that it was Emily's number. "Hello," he answered, trying not to sound overly eager.

"_Mr. Morgan? My name is Silvia Bowen. You don't know me, but..._"

"You're Emily's neighbor," he recalled. "What's wrong?" Derek's heart had begun to race the second she stated her name. "Did something happen to Beth? Is Emily there? Can I talk to her?"

"_Emily's the reason I'm calling,_" she replied with a nervous tremble. "_I agreed to watch Beth last night and Emily said she wouldn't be late, but I ended up putting Beth to bed and she still wasn't home. I tried to contact her but the phone kept going to voicemail. I eventually fell asleep on her sofa and didn't wake up until just a short time ago. I figured Emily got in late and didn't wish to wake me, but I checked to be sure she was here before leaving and_..."

"She's not?" Derek guessed.

"_No_," the woman confirmed. "_I don't think her bed was slept in and her car isn't here. I called again but only got the message. I also tried to get a hold of her parents. Emily told me they're traveling right now, but I left messages for them to call me back in case they might know something. Then I noticed your number by the phone. I know you're Beth's father, so I called you. I wasn't sure what else to do_."

He took a shallow breath as worry for his daughter resurfaced. "Where is Beth?"

"_She's here, sleeping soundly. I checked on her a few minutes ago, after I went to Emily's room. But, Mr. Morgan, it's just after five in the morning here and I'm certain Emily never came home. I'm very worried. This isn't like her at all_."

Morgan could hear that concern loud and clear. "Listen carefully, I want you to stay in the house. Make sure all the doors and windows are locked."

"_Are we in danger?_"

Derek wasn't sure what to say, but hoped to keep her calm. "I don't think so," he replied. "Right now, I just really need you to stay with Beth at the house. Don't open the door for anyone unless it's Emily. Don't even answer the phone unless you recognize the caller. Do you understand?"

"_Yes_."

"Good. I'm going to get back to you as soon as possible, okay?"

"_All right_," she agreed. "_Thank you_."

The call ended and Morgan's heart slowed down just a little to know that Beth was okay. But losing Emily was not an option. Not after he'd just found her again. He hit the number one speed dial button on his cell and dashed out the front door. Derek sped down the stairwell, skipping entire steps all together. "Garcia," he greeted the analyst briefly when she answered. "I need you to check Seattle area hospitals for any record of a patient named Emily Stewart."

"_Oh God, why?_"

Derek burst through the door to his parking garage and ran to his car. He jumped in to the vehicle, stared it up and roared out of the main gate. All the while he heard Garcia still trying to ask him about what was going on. "Emily's missing," he finally reported, with no further detail. "I also need you to run a search for this license plate: five, five, five, delta, echo, bravo," he recalled the sequence he'd seen on Emily's car. "Did you get that?"

"_Yes, of course, but wha..._"

"And I need you to have JJ gather the team ASAP. I'm going to be there in about twenty minutes, maybe less," he ended the call abruptly after that and stomped down on his gas peddle, turning a corner much too quickly. Derek let out a shaky breath and slowed the SUV a little as he realized he wasn't going to be any help to Emily or his daughter if he was dead. As he pulled on to the highway, Morgan made another call.

xxx

The team was fully assembled when Morgan arrived in one piece. And he'd barely stepped in to the BAU room when Garcia came rushing in on his heels. She shoved a brown file folder in his hands. "The license plate number you gave me came up in a report of an abandoned car; 2008 dark-blue Subaru Outback. It was found just after midnight in a parking lot in Everett, Washington, which is about..."

"Twenty-eight miles north of Seattle," Reid finished.

"Would someone mind backing up a few steps here," Hotch looked to Garcia and then Derek. "What is this all about?"

Derek offered the file to his boss. "This is Emily's car. She's been missing since last night."

Hotch quickly glanced over the vehicle registration information and Garcia's abandoned car report, which looked to be copied from an online police log. "Emily Stewart?"

"That's the name she's using now, legally..." Derek shook his head, not carrying about names at the moment. "Hotch, we need to get to Seattle. Emily's already been missing for almost twelve hours. Anything could have happened to her by now."

The Unit Chief frowned as he caught Dave's eye for a second. His old friend shrugged, not seeming to know anything more about it all than Hotch. "Can we just slow down a second here?" Hotch turned back to Derek and tapped the file. "This is an abandoned car. We don't know that there's any sort of case."

"Of course there's a case," Morgan protested. He was quickly losing his patients with explanations, but he also knew he needed Hotch on his side. "It's a kidnapping case and we work abductions all the time."

"Yes," Hotch's tone was decidedly non-committal.

Derek sighed in frustration. "And this is Emily we're talking about here."

Hotch remained reserved. "I hear you, but... I also know that Emily left this BAU team three years ago without any word to any of us."

"So, you're holding a grudge now?" Derek held his hands up, somewhat disappointed. "Come on, Hotch!"

"That's not what I'm trying to get across here, Morgan." The team leader shook his head. Everyone else in the room seemed content to remain quiet as they watched the two discuss the matter. Hotch took a deep breath before he finished his thoughts. "Doesn't it seem a little bit coincidental that a few days after you track Emily down, she disappears again? An abandoned car could just mean that she's trying to allude you again. I think it's likely this isn't a kidnapping at all."

"Yes... it... is," Derek growled the words out slowly. "Trust me on this, its not like three years ago, not even close."

"Why are you so sure about that?" Reid finally broke formation to pose the question. He could tell his friend was really upset. "Do you have any other evidence?"

Derek remained frustrated. "Yes, I know there's no way she'd leave like this."

"Morgan..." Hotch began to speak again but was cut off.

"No!" Derek's temper flared, finally letting the team feel the full force of his irritation. "She'd never leave Beth behind!" He caught Garcia's eye, the only one who understood what that actually meant. It seemed some small amount of explanation was finally in order. "Something is really wrong here, because Emily would never leave her daughter like this," he concluded.

JJ stared at him, wide-eyed. "Emily has a daughter?" she asked the obvious question on all their minds at that moment.

There was no time for a proper answer to that question before they were interrupted by Agent Anderson stepping in to the room. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but there's a call for Agent Morgan on line two. It's Special Agent Nick Casey from the Seattle field office, says he's calling you back. It seemed important."

"You contacted the field office without discussing this with me first?" Hotch glared at Derek, not at all happy with the man's behavior. But he had to admit that it seemed odd Emily would skip town without her child in tow, if she did indeed have a daughter as Derek had just announced. Anderson slowly backed out of the room as Hotch's narrowed eyes continued their securitization of Derek. "Well, you started this, you might as well answer the call," he insisted.

It was JJ who actually hit the speaker button on the phone in the center of their conference table. "Agent Casey, this is Derek Morgan. Thank you for getting back to me so soon. I assume you listened to my message?"

"_I did, which surprised me a little. You mentioned the name Emily Stewart and I was just called in on that case at the crack of dawn. I'm kind of curious to know how you already heard about it_?"

"You were called in on an abandoned car case?" Reid asked, finding that a bit odd.

"_It's more than just an abandoned car_," the agent replied.

"Casey, this is Unit Chief Hotchner," he jumped in. "I'm sorry that Agent Morgan called you so early, but I am curious now to know why you've been called in on this. As far as we know Emily Stewart's car..." it felt odd calling her by that last name. "...was abandoned?"

"_The car _was_ abandoned, but the area is being processed as a crime scene. Driver's window was busted open and blood was found. Samples have already been sent to a lab. There's more, though. The reason I was called in so soon is because we had something similar occur two weeks ago down in Renton. A woman's car was found abandoned, broken driver's window, blood at the scene and she was reported missing by her husband. That case is still unsolved. I had reports out to all area precincts, which is why when this came up they contacted me immediately. It's still too early to tell if there's a connection between the cases, though_."

Morgan had calmed a little at first, thinking surely Hotch would have to take the case seriously now, but his worry returned ten-fold as soon as Casey mentioned the other abduction. "That woman's case, it's unsolved because they never found her?" he asked.

"_No, she was found_," Casey responded. "_Her body washed up on a northern beach of Lake Washington about three days after she'd been reported missing_."

The BAU room fell deadly silent after that until Hotch finally spoke up. "Agent Casey, the woman in question, her name was Emily Prentiss several years ago and she's a former member of our team."

"_So, you'd like in on the case_?" the man guessed. "_It's a bit out of your way. Although, if it turns out to be a serial you'd certainly be first on my call list. I welcome your help either way, and I don't think I need to tell you that the sooner we get going on this the better,_" he concluded.

"We'll be there this afternoon," Hotch agreed. The call was disconnected as he looked to his team. "Wheels up in twenty."

xxx

The jet hummed softly beneath their seats as they began to go over the open case, which they still weren't sure was connected to Emily's disappearance or not. Hotch and JJ sat on one side of the table with Morgan and Reid on the other. Rossi leaned forward from his position on the bench across from them. And their favorite technical analyst stared back at them all from a small window on the laptop. "Garcia, what have you got so far on the first vic..." Hotch stopped himself short as he spared a glance at Morgan who hadn't said a word since they'd taken off an hour ago. "What can you tell us about Lauren Kupfer?"

"_She was forty-three years old, five foot eight inches tall, blonde hair and blue eyes. Hair doesn't look like it was a dye job, but the boobs were definitely fake_," the spirited woman relayed.

"Excuse me?" Rossi's brows arched in unison.

"_Oh, trust me, they had to be done professionally. I don't care what kind of wonder bra you wear, nothing's that perky_."

"Garcia," Hotch gently warned.

It was not the tech's intension to speak ill of the dead. On the contrary, her comments were born more of a need to keep things lighthearted when wrapped up in such a dire job. "_I'm just saying_."

"Penelope, please focus on Emily," Derek finally spoke up.

The analyst only heard the name Emily emit from his mouth, but she could pretty much hear the name Beth permanently attached to it. And her head filled with the images Derek had shown her the day before. That was all she needed to get back on track. "_Right... Lauren was married to Philip Kupfer. He's a big muckity-muck something or other with Boeing. Guy makes a lot of money, as in; more than me, but not nearly as much as that Facebook CEO kid. He was questioned in connection to his wife's disappearance and death, but they ruled him out early on. Seems like a pretty good guy on virtual-paper; donates to Seattle Children's Hospital on a regular basis, even volunteers a lot of time there._"

"Did Lauren and Philip have any kids?" Hotch asked.

Garcia shook her head on screen. "_Nope, not a one_," she kept typing for a moment. "_No medical records of abortion or miscarriage either. And nothing on fertility treatments or adoption applications_."

Reid twirled a pencil in his left hand as he quirked his lips in thought. "If this Kupfer guy makes such good money, I assume Lauren didn't work?"

"_You assume wrong, young Skywalker_," Garcia quipped. "_She'd been working as an assistant at a law firm in Seattle for the last ten years; Meyer, Brennan & Zingler. And it appears that the bulk of their work is in criminal law cases_."

Dave rested his elbows against his thighs. "Well, at least that's one small connection to Emily. Maybe. Other than that, victimology doesn't seem to track on this. Appearance wise they're completely different. And Emily's not married, as far as we know."

Morgan was a bit lost in his own thoughts, but managed to keep an ear open. "She's not," he instinctively replied.

"And Lauren and Philip didn't have any children, where as Emily apparently has a daughter," Reid said.

JJ circled a note on her pad of paper that listed Emily's daughter's name. "What about Beth's father?" she looked around the table. "I wonder if he's involved in her life?"

"Could be some animosity there if not," Rossi chimed in.

Hotch agreed with a stiff nod. "Garcia, find us a birth certificate for the child. I'm assuming Beth is short for Elizabeth, like Emily's mother. Try searching records in Seattle to start with," he looked across the table to Derek. "Did you see this little girl? Have any idea how old she is?"

"She's two," Morgan replied.

"Alright, Garcia, that should give you a good time frame," Hotch concluded.

The woman on screen looked a little uncertain about how to proceed as she tried to catch Morgan's attention. "Uh... hey, Derek, do you maybe want to..." she wasn't sure how much she should say, seeing that he looked to be about a thousand miles away at the moment. "You know..."

"Garcia, is there a problem?" Hotch asked. "I need you to run that search right away."

"_I understand, sir. I do_." She sighed. "It's just that..." her eyes focused on Derek again.

"Why don't you just tell us the truth, Morgan," Rossi suggested. "Save us all some time, which Emily might not have to spare."

Morgan's head popped up, suddenly aware of what was going on. All eyes were darting back and forth between him and Rossi. "Excuse me?"

Dave pursed his lips, but decided to continue with his spontaneous decision. "Well, this little girl, Beth, is your daughter right?" he asked point blank. "That's why Emily left three years ago, because of the affair. You sent her packing because you were about to get married. But then you felt guilty, which is why you called off the wedding and set yourself to tracking down Emily and the child you abandoned."

"I did not abandon my child!" Derek snapped. The rest of the story came tumbling out after that. "Emily left of her own free will, and she left before she even knew she was pregnant. She also never told me. I just found out on Friday about being a dad," he explained.

There was a long, silent pause before Rossi finally responded. "I'm sorry," Dave apologized. "I never really suspected you of hurting Emily in any way, but I figured firing you up was the best way to get some truth out of you. I _have_ been doing this job for a while, Morgan. The second you used the child being left behind as your main reason for believing that Emily had been abducted... well, it seemed pretty obvious what they both mean to you. And it's not as if we haven't all had our suspicions about you and Emily," he concluded.

Derek glanced around the plane to see some rather uncomfortable looks on his colleague's faces. "That true?"

"You did call off your wedding shortly after Emily's departure," Reid bravely replied with a shrug.

JJ nodded along. "And you've spent the better part of the last three years searching for her," she added. "Kind of relentlessly."

"We're all friends here, Morgan, you can talk to us," Rossi offered as he extended his hand across the aisle toward the man. "It also seems some belated congratulations are in order, _dad_."

A smile spread across Derek's face, despite the worry that still clouded his mind about Emily. He accepted Dave's handshake and goodwill. "Thank you," he replied. Reid's hand was proffered a second later as he too bestowed well-wishes upon his friend. JJ even leaned across the table to place a chaste kiss upon his cheek, in a rare show of affection for the profiler. Morgan sat back after that, seeing that Hotch was eyeing him intently.

Hotch was somewhat saddened that Derek hadn't thought he could be up front with him after all the years they'd worked together. But he respected Morgan as much as anyone he'd ever known, and he knew that having a private life outside the team was a struggle for all of them. He finally offered a congratulatory hand, along with a smile to reflect his genuine happiness for Derek. When the moment passed, Hotch cleared his throat; a signal to all of them that work was once again their priority. "Let's try to look for some other angle on this case before we land," he suggested.

xxx

Emily slowly opened her eyes and quickly closed them again. The right side of her head felt swollen and sore, making the bright sunlight she'd briefly glimpsed all the more painful to her sensitive eyes. But she opened them again, despite the pain, hoping to get some handle on her bearings. She instantly realized her wrists and ankles were strapped to a heavy wooden chair, and there was a table in front of her. Directly across from her was another larger wood table. A figure sat behind that table, but was only visible to Emily as a silhouette; a screen obscuring the person's true identity. To her left and right stood two young men, early twenties; tall and muscled. Emily had no doubt that one of them was responsible for her headache.

As she got used to the light, Emily focused on the surroundings beyond her immediate vicinity. The building appeared to be a manufacturing factory or warehouse, given the several large pieces of equipment positioned all around them. But the rust and dust accumulated on the monoliths caused Emily to guess that the place had long been vacant. When she craned her aching head backwards a little, Emily noticed that many of the high windows had been busted out, also lending to her assessment of abandonment. But at least they allowed streams of soft sunlight in, which helped warm the chilled and damp interior.

"Good morning," a voice greeted her.

The sound was not that of a human, at least not directly. There was clearly some sort of voice distortion device being used. "I'd say it's afternoon considering how high the sun already is," Emily replied. She could barely remember her own name at the moment, but she wanted her captures to know she wasn't going to just roll over and die for them, if that was their ultimate goal.

"Think you're smart, do you?" the voice questioned. "Well, that will all be determined once the trial begins. You are here to be judged and may act as your own council if you wish. Otherwise, I'm sure one of my assistants would be happy to defend you." Mechanical laughter filled the room.

Emily had thought her head couldn't hurt any more, but that high-pitched screech proved her wrong. "I don't understand. Judged for what?"

The laughter swiftly ended. "You know the crime for which you have been charged."

A deep exhale escaped Emily's lungs. It almost felt like she was dealing with her stubborn two year old again. "Uh, no... actually I don't."

"Premeditated destruction of a family unit," the voice stated.

Emily instantly felt sick to her stomach, and not because of her pounding head. She thought about Derek and what she'd done by keeping his daughter from him. But somehow she didn't think this mechanized voice was talking about that large lapse in her own judgment. "So, who is going to be doing the judging at this trail? You? If so that seems to go against the innocent until proven guilty statute of the law, because I'm guessing you're already somewhat biased against me, for whatever reason," Emily pointed out. "I mean, it's just that the whole kidnapping thing is kind of a dead giveaway."

"Shut her up!" the voice ordered its sentries. "Any further outbursts in this court will result in the forfeiture of this trial and we'll go straight to sentencing,"

Emily sighed again. "Well that first foray into self-defense went really well," she whispered to herself as the two young men approached her.

She almost wanted to laugh for the way she'd been so upset at Derek the other day for letting his big mouth get away from him. Emily realized she wasn't too far behind him when it came to blurting out things without thinking, or making major life decisions without thinking them through all the way. She could only hope their poor daughter would somehow be able to overcome that combo of flawed DNA. As the first punch was landed, Emily couldn't help worrying about her daughter again. But she knew that if anything happened to her, at least Beth would have Derek. That gave her comfort as she endured the blows.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 7

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Derek knocked on Emily's front door and anxiously waited for an answer. Reid and JJ stood behind him on the front porch, their eyes scanning all directions as they made sure the area was secure. Hotch and Rossi had gone up to Everett to meet with Agent Casey at the crime scene. Their unit leader had suggested the rest of them check Emily's house for anything that might help her case. Derek understood that Hotch had made the suggestion mostly for his sake, sensing how worried he was about Beth. He hadn't even minded the coddling from his boss, happy to accept the rare gift.

The slightly gray-haired woman appeared through the window at the top of the door and Derek pressed his badge against the glass for her to see. "I'm special agent Derek Morgan, we spoke on the phone," he announced. "I have Agent Jareau and Doctor Reid with me."

Silvia quickly ushered them inside and locked the door again. "I understand that you've just arrived, but is there any word about Emily yet?" she asked, leading them further into the house. "You see... my husband passed away early in life, two years ago now. It was about the same time little Beth was born and I became close friends with Emily. My Stanley and I could never have kids. Emily and Beth have become the only family I really have these days, aside from a brother in Texas who I rarely talk to."

Morgan smiled sympathetically, but spoke very little. "We're doing everything we can to find Emily." He glanced over his shoulder to JJ and Reid. "There's a darkroom in the basement, maybe the two of you can start there," he suggested. Derek motioned toward the staircase and then turned to Silvia. "Where is Beth?" he finally asked, realizing he hadn't heard or seen any evidence of the child being near.

"She went down for a nap a short time ago. Poor thing wore herself out with worry. She keeps asking for Emily and I haven't been sure what to tell her. Emily is always here in the mornings and at night. It's disorienting for such a small child," Silvia explained.

He nodded. "If you don't mind, I'm just going to check on her before I join the others."

"Not at all," the woman inclined her head toward the bedrooms.

Derek didn't know why he felt so nervous as he crept toward his daughter's room. He'd spent time with her over the weekend, but he still worried she might not remember him after such a short encounter. The second he laid eyes on her sweet little face, though, Derek relaxed. He knelt down beside her bed and ran a hand gently over the back of her head. "Hello, my beautiful girl," he whispered.

"Mama?" Beth's tiny voice croaked and her eyelids fluttered open.

"Shh," Derek tried to coax the child back to sleep, letting his hand gently glide along her silky dark hair again.

But her eyes opened wider. "Daddy?"

He smiled to hear that moniker roll off his baby girl's tongue. Derek watched as she reached out to him and he soon found himself with an armful of warm, sweet-smelling toddler as she flung her arms around his neck. "Hey, angel. Daddy's sorry he woke you."

"Daddy... miss mama," the child whimpered.

Morgan kissed the top of her head, which rested beneath his chin. "I know you do, darling," he said as he stood, keeping her safe in his arms. She looked like a slight little thing, but Beth was nearly thirty-six inches tall without much baby fat left. She was made of study stuff, and Derek hoped her heart was just as strong. "Come on, there're some people I want you to meet."

In the living room they were greeted by Silvia. "Mr. Morgan, I almost forgot to tell you..."

"Please, Silvia, you can call me Derek," he offered.

"Derek," she nodded. "I'm sorry we didn't get to meet under better circumstances. Emily has always spoken fondly of you. I never could figure out why things between you didn't work out." Silvia wore a curious look, but realized quickly that it was none of her business. "What I wanted to tell you is that Emily's parents contacted me just after you let me know your team was on the way. They returned from France on Sunday night and have had their phones turned off to rest, but they called the second they got my messages. They've already left DC and are headed here. Their flight is due in this evening."

He took a deep breath, trying to settle on a feeling. There was anger and there was worry. Mostly worry. Derek was nervous, wondering how they'd react now that he was in Beth's life. But all of that could wait. Emily's life was still in danger and he needed to focus on finding her, first and foremost. "That's good," he settled on a pragmatic answer as he gazed at Beth. "She should have family with her right now."

Silvia smiled, sensing that it had been a tough thing for him to admit. "Do you need me to stay?"

"Yes, actually. Once we've gone over things here, we have a scheduled meeting with a man in Renton that we need to get to this afternoon. And things could go late," Derek let her know. "If you would stay with Beth until Emily's parents arrive I'd really appreciate it. I can pay whatever you like."

She put a hand up and shook her head. "I don't need money. But, could I go gather a few things at my place?"

"Of course," he shifted Beth to one side. "I've got her for now." Morgan walked Silvia to the door and even waited, watching to make sure she got inside the house next door safely. Then he moved to the back of the house where the basement entry was.

"Daddy... swing?" Beth pointed to the window in the back door where she could see the swing attached to a tree branch.

"Not right now, sweetheart." Morgan felt bad for saying no, but tried to cheer her up as they started down the stairs. "Daddy has to work. Would you like to help me?"

"Yes!" she happily answered.

He didn't think she had much idea what he'd meant about working, but was pleased by her enthusiasm. "Okay, my smart girl," Derek tickled her tummy and delighted in the soft peals of laughter that lifted from her throat. The sound did wonders to help ease his troubled mind.

The basement was not what Derek had been expecting. It was bright, lit by several casement windows in the foundation walls. The space was warm and fully finished with recessed can lighting, painted wood-stud walls and carpeting. The main room could best be described as a family room, with a sofa, TV and an office area. He turned around and found a small alcove under the stairs that was used as a laundry facility. Then Derek noticed the open door at the far end of the spacious room. There was a light on inside and he found Reid and JJ shuffling about.

"Find anything?" Derek asked as he stepped inside.

JJ and Reid instantly noticed the child in his arms. They thought Morgan looked both awkward and at ease holding the little girl; a gentle giant with his princess. It reminded JJ of something. "Well, there is this," she handed him an 8x10 black and white print.

Derek was surprised by the image at first, until he remembered Emily's odd behavior when he'd woken from his nap on her sofa Sunday afternoon. It seemed she'd secretly captured the very first photo of him and Beth together. And it was a gorgeous site. "Daddy... sleep," Beth pointed to the picture. "Bethy sleep," she grinned up at him.

He kissed his daughter's cheek, facing Reid and JJ again. "Beth, I'd like you to meet some of daddy's..." he was about to call them colleagues when he paused, remembering what Rossi had said to him on the jet just a short time ago. He'd considered the team his friends for a long time, but even more so now as he leaned on them for support. "These are daddy's friends... JJ," he pointed to the woman who wore a smile and reached out to gently touch Beth's right hand.

"Hello, sweetie," JJ greeted.

"Hi," Beth shyly replied, resting her head against Derek's shoulder.

Morgan patted Beth's back reassuringly, glad to be a source of comfort for her around the new people. "And that tall, skinny guy there is Dr. Reid," Derek pointed to the younger man who stood across the room with a stack of folders in his hands.

"Hi, weed," the girl responded to her second introduction.

Spencer frowned as he eyed the others. "Did she just call me, weed?" JJ and Derek each chuckled and nodded their heads in confirmation. Beth seemed to think their laughter was funny and joined in, not realizing it was her comment that had started the ball rolling. Even Reid couldn't help but laugh as he heard the little girl's infectious joviality. "It seems she's got Emily's sense of humor down pat already," the doctor noted, which caused the three adults to laugh even harder.

It felt nice to laugh for a moment, but, unfortunately, the moment slipped away as Derek noticed something on the corner of a picture in JJ's hand. It was a small, colored circle like a price tag sticker one might buy at a discount store and use at a garage sale. "Is there a number on that?" he questioned JJ.

"Yeah, they all seem to have these," JJ spread a few of the photos out in front of him on the table in the middle of the room. The black and white images showed a series of events; the same dark-haired man and a brunette woman as they moved from the interior of a parked car toward the entrance of a ritzy looking restaurant. "Reid and I haven't been able to locate any names yet."

"All these files have numbers too," Reid informed them. "And just pictures inside, no notes."

Derek motioned for them to follow him back into the main area of the cozy basement. He pointed toward the desk. "Emily's laptop might hold the actual documents that coincide with these numbers," he suggested.

It took JJ and Reid just a few minutes to figure out Emily's password; a combination of Beth's name and birth date, the latter of which was supplied by Derek. The three of them found several hundred files. Reid scrolled through the list to find the number they'd seen on the pictures left in her darkroom. "Here it is... Jared Hopkins hired Emily to tail his wife, Cynthia. Apparently those pictures are of Cynthia and her fitness instructor, Hercules,"

"Herles," Beth tried to mimic Reid.

"Are you kidding me?" JJ rolled her eyes, though she smiled at Beth's comment, remembering when Henry had gone through that repetitive stage. "Is that really his name?"

Morgan read over Reid's shoulder. "Unless it's some code Emily is using. It seems Hercules has been benching more than just weights at the fitness club for the last several months," he concluded. "I think we should contact this Hopkins guy. He could have been upset to learn about his wife's affair, maybe even enough to try and hurt Emily because of it."

"Don't shoot the messenger," JJ mumbled as she and Reid searched for his contact information. "I'm guessing a lot of these cases could be suspect as well, if disgruntled spouses are involved... oh, boy..." she caught Derek's attention again. "Turns out Jared Hopkins lives in Everett." The words were barely out of her mouth when her cell rang. "It's Hotch," JJ let the others know as she put their boss on speaker. "What did you find at the scene?" she asked.

"_Not a whole lot more than what Casey originally told us. Lab work is already back, though, and the blood recovered is a DNA match for Emily_," he explained. "_But there wasn't much blood in the car. I'd say someone just wanted to make her more pliable for transport. We found a day planner too. Her appointment last night was with a man named Jared Hopkins," _Hotch let them know. "_Folks at the coffee place around the corner say they saw Emily and some guy chatting for about an hour_."

JJ nodded at her end. "We just found pictures of Hopkins' wife and her personal trainer on their way to dinner. According to Emily's report, Cynthia Hopkins has been with this, Hercules, guy for months." They could hear Rossi chuckling in the background, no doubt at the mention of the name Hercules. "We have a home address for him," she pointed the phone at Reid so he could relay the information.

"_Thanks_," Hotch replied. "_Dave and I will head out there now. How are things at your end?_"

"I think we might email Emily's client files to Garcia and have her sift through them while we meet with Kupfer," Derek relayed.

"_Good plan_," Hotch said. "_We can rendezvous at the field office this evening_," he added just before ending the call.

"Excuse me, Derek?" Silvia's voice called down the stairs.

He left JJ and Reid to finish up and joined the woman upstairs. "Is everything all right?" Morgan asked as Beth was still leaning against his broad chest.

"When I came back to the house just now, I noticed a package on the front steps," Silvia explained. "I didn't look very closely at it, I thought it best to let you know."

Derek nodded. "Okay, you did the right thing," he insisted, pealing Beth off and passing her over to the woman. The girl reached out for him, but Morgan told Silvia to stay in the house as he went to investigate the package. He held a hand against the weapon at his hip and stepped on to the front porch, glancing up and down the block. Not seeing any delivery vehicles, Derek bent over to examine the medium sized box. His whole body relaxed when he recognized the label. He even wore a smile as he picked it up and went back inside.

"Is it okay?" Silvia asked as the girl beside her rushed to Derek.

"Nothing to worry about," he replied, squatting in front of Beth. "It's just something for my favorite little girl." Derek opened the box, and Beth was more interested in being as close to him as possible. But, when Morgan pulled the stuffed animal out, he saw her eyes light up. "That's for you, sweetheart," he handed it to her.

Beth beamed as she instantly crushed the soft animal against her. "Ducky!" she exclaimed. "Daddy duck." The child kept hold of her new toy, but also squished herself against Derek again. "Mama go?" she whispered in his ear.

Derek realized that a stuffed toy couldn't hold a candle to Beth's mama. He scooped her up and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to find mama for you, okay? Don't you worry about that," he promised.

Reid and JJ found them in that embrace when they emerged from the basement a few minutes later. JJ almost hated to interrupt. "We're due to meet Kupfer in a half hour," she reminded Derek.

"Will you be returning tonight?" Silvia asked.

"Yes, but maybe not until very late," Derek let her know.

The woman grabbed something from inside the living room desk drawer and handed it to Derek. "This is an extra key to the house. Emily's parents will be here tonight, so I'll probably be back at my place. But I'll let them know to expect you late."

"Thanks." He took a deep breath as he separated himself from Beth again and placed her in Silvia's arms. "I have to go for a little while. And I might not see you until you wake up tomorrow morning, okay?" She didn't appear to really understand but smiled just a little, seeming to reassure him when it should have been him trying to do that for her. Morgan kissed her forehead. "I love you, munchkin. See you soon."

"Bye, daddy," Beth waved as he and the others exited the house.

Morgan looked back to see her at the window and remembered when Emily had left on Sunday. Beth had cried for her mama then, the way she had tears in her eyes for him now. "You could stay," JJ spoke up as they reached the SUV. "Reid and I can handle talking to Kupfer. And that little girl would be happy to have you stay." She paused, watching him weigh the choice. "No one on this team would fault you for staying, Derek."

"I know," he finally nodded. "And thank you, but..." Derek stood by the driver's door and watched the living room curtain close. He hoped that Silvia would be able to comfort his baby girl. "I can't sit still on this, JJ. I need to find Emily."

xxx

Philip Kupfer's home was large; modern and stark. He was a spindly, balding man, who Derek could tell was holding something back as they questioned him.

"I loved my wife up until the day she died. I _still_ love her. And for the first few years of our marriage I truly believe she loved me, but I think I was mistaken. She loved the money my job provided. At first she was happy with a new car, maybe a trip to Fiji. But then that wasn't enough. She wanted ridiculous things like cosmetic surgery; breast enhancements and a face lift. I told her she was beautiful the way she was, but she stared at me like I was crazy. And I just wanted to make her happy."

"And was she happy with those things?" Derek asked.

Kupfer shook his head. "Of course not. I was in denial, Agent. I know that now. But love is love, you can't just turn it on and off. Even unreciprocated love is true love in the eye of the beholder. I loved her enough to overlook her little foibles."

"Enough to let her have an affair?" Reid inquired.

"I don't... I... why would you ask that?" Philip sputtered.

"Mr. Kupfer," JJ tried to take a softer tone with the man. "There are reports that state you told Agent Casey you wanted Lauren's killer brought to justice. Well, in order for us to help her rest in peace, you need to help us. You need to be completely honest with us. Was your wife seeing someone else?"

The man's gaze lowered to the floor, ashamed of what he was about to admit. "Yes," he revealed.

Derek was glad to finally be getting somewhere. "Did you hire a private investigator in Seattle named Emily Stewart to uncover your wife's indiscretions? And please keep in mind that we have Stewart's records on hand so we'll know if you're lying."

"No," Kupfer scrunched up his nose, feeling accused. "I never needed anyone to tell me. Well, Lauren told me, but I already suspected before that. She desired more from life than mediocrity, and I've never been much to look at."

"Was it someone she worked with?" Reid asked.

Philip Kupfer shrugged. "I always assumed. Why else would a woman hold on to a job if she already had a husband who could afford just about anything she'd ever want or need?" he glanced over at JJ. "I'm sorry, I know women like to work, I didn't mean to imply... hell, it's just Lauren. I know she didn't like to work. So, I drew the only conclusion I could."

Morgan had suspected the same thing. "Do you know specifically who this man was?"

"No. The firm has three partners, fifteen associates and who knows how many law clerks. Not to mention assistants to all of them and however many other people it takes to run an office like that."

"But your wife was attracted to money and power, so it's pretty safe to assume she wasn't carrying on with the mailroom guy," JJ guessed.

Kupfer nodded. "She was assistant to one of the associates, a Ben Wilkerson. I met him once at a function. He's a tall guy, mid-forties, athletic build. Everything I'm not."

"You think it was him?" Derek fished for a stronger answer.

Philip just shrugged again. "I really don't know."

They thanked the man for his time and let him know they'd be in touch if they had any more questions. "Do happy marriages even exist any more?" JJ asked as the three of them walked toward their vehicle at the end of a long driveway. After almost five years, living together and raising their son, she and Will were still dancing around the issue of marriage.

"Statistically, almost fifty percent of all first marriages in the United States end in divorce," Reid promptly replied. "And that percentage goes up considerably for second and third marriages."

JJ groaned. "Yeah, just ask Rossi."

Reid remained in data mode. "Therapist and author of _The Monogamy Myth_, Peggy Vaughn, believes that something like sixty percent of men will cheat in the course of their marriage and forty percent of women will. Which would mean that nearly eighty percent of all marriages will be touched by infidelity."

"You read that stuff for fun, man?" Morgan asked, shaking his head. "I think my parents would've stuck it out if my dad hadn't been killed. They were happy. And Emily's parents are apparently still married. I don't know about happily, though, but..."

"So, maybe you should just tell Emily that you love her? Get married, make it work," Reid suggested out of the blue. He was probably one of the least romantic people in the world, but even he could see how much Derek was pinning for the woman.

Morgan sighed. "It's a lot more complicated than that, kid."

"Maybe three years ago it was complicated," JJ countered. "Because you worked together. But now..."

"This Kupfer guy has definitely got some self-esteem issues," Derek blatantly dodged his friend's efforts as they reached the SUV. "But I think Casey was right to rule him out. We should look deeper into this law firm instead, see if we can suss out the guy Lauren was carrying on with." He promptly got Garcia on the line and was thankful that the other two made no effort to resume their previous discussion. "Hey, doll-face, how you coming on those files we sent?"

"_Well, it's been all of an hour_..." the tech replied. "_So you know I've got something for you_."

Morgan could just about picture the proud grin curling her lips. "Yeah, I figured. You're the best at what you do, sweetness."

"S_omeone is in a much better mood_," Penelope noticed.

"That's because he got to hold his daughter," JJ interjected.

"She's very cute, and luckily takes after Emily," Reid added.

"_Oh, my... did she actually charm Dr. Reid?_" Garcia gasped, playfully. "_That girl is good_," she chuckled. "_And I'm jealous you've all gotten to gush over her already. But, back to business. You remember that law firm I mentioned Lauren Kupfer working at?_"

Derek was further impressed. "Are you a mind reader too, girl? We think Lauren Kupfer might have been having an affair with someone in the firm."

"_Yeah, well... one of the partners, Brennan; that name came up in Emily's files_."

JJ leaned toward Morgan's phone to speak. "Do you think he could be the one?"

"_Well, he is actually a she_," Garcia corrected.

"Come again?" Derek responded.

The tech clarified a little more. "_Louise Brennan is the partner in question_."

Reid looked a bit stymied for a moment. "So, Lauren and this other woman, you think they were..."

"_Oh, no, no... nothing at all like that_," Penelope jumped in. "_Louise Brennan hired Emily to find out what her husband, Charles, was up to when she suspected him of cheating. And in the files it lists Charles being seen repeatedly with a woman who is only identified by the initials L. K._"

"Lauren Kupfer," Derek stated.

"_Brilliant deduction_," Garcia quipped.

Morgan pondered something Philip Kupfer had said. "Doesn't make as much sense as we thought, though, as to why Lauren was working there if Charles doesn't."

"_Fear not, my love. Your profiler instincts have not failed you_," the analyst replied. "_Brennan happens to be Louise's maiden name. She's married to Charles Meyer, one of the three founding partners. The third is a Craig Zingler who was a good friend of theirs in college. Rewinding things a bit here... Charles and Louise met as undergrads at Seattle University and were married straight after graduation. They also had a child that first year of marriage, about eight months after the honeymoon. Could have been a preemie, not sure, don't care. Louise started law school a year after Charles and graduated three years later, whereupon they added a second child to their family. Then they started the firm, and the rest is history._"

Derek never ceased to be impressed by how quickly she could round up information. He thanked her and hung up, then turned to JJ and Reid. "I think we need to pay a visit to the Brennan-Meyer residence, but we should probably meet up with Hotch and Rossi first, see what they learned from that Hopkins guy, if anything," he concluded.

xxx

"Now that the case has been clearly laid out for you, do you wish to speak on your behalf?" the voice asked.

Emily wanted to reply with a resounding: duh! But she restrained herself, remembering what had occurred earlier in the day. After her second round of being used as a punching bag, Emily's stomach and ribs were mighty sore. And sitting strapped to a chair for several hours wasn't helping the healing process. They'd left her alone for a long time after that, and Emily had watched the sun slowly fade in to an evening sky. Now the voice and its lackeys were back and the so-called trial had begun. She couldn't help wonder if it was all some bad dream. That perhaps she was still in her car, unconscious, waiting for the world to right itself.

"Did you hear me?" the voice called out again.

"Yes, I did," Emily finally answered, realizing her unconscious mind could doubtfully create a scenario quite so elaborate, or bizarre. "I'd like a clarification on the exact charges. Maybe the name of the family that I've supposedly destroyed?"

"Nice try. But I'll give you this name: Lauren Kupfer."

The name Kupfer was not a popular one and Emily recognized it right away. "So, you're Charles Meyer? Louise Brennan's husband?"

"Who I am is not important. What you did to my family is."

That was pretty much an admission in Emily's book. Although, the man didn't seem agitated to know she'd figured out who he was. That could mean one of two things. Either she was wrong and he wasn't Meyer, or he didn't care if she knew who he was because he planned to kill her before she could ever identify him as her kidnapper. She didn't like the last option. "In my defense, Louise Brennan hired me to do a job," Emily pronounced.

"So, as long as you get paid, you don't care who gets hurt?"

"No," Emily sighed. "I care about my clients," she insisted, recalling her Sunday meeting with the man whose wife was dying of cancer. "I don't take these cases lightly. Your wife asked me to find out if you were having an affair," Emily kept to the idea that he was Charles Meyer. It seemed easiest. "She needed answers."

"But if you hadn't interfered, she would have dropped the matter. Her family would be whole."

Emily rolled her eyes. "She would have found someone else to take her case."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"So, you'd rather she live happily oblivious? That would be a lie," Emily persisted, though it seemed futile to argue.

"Not a lie, a lack of knowledge."

Emily scoffed. "Lack of knowledge? That's just a fancy way of saying, lie. Lawyers are certainly good at fancy talk, aren't they? Judges are usually more impartial. I'd say you're a lawyer, not a judge."

"Silence."

"I apologize for that," Emily conceded, remaining cautious. "It can be stricken from the record," she added. "You asked for my defense. Well, this is it in a nutshell. I try to decipher truths, whether it's the truth about what happened to a person's missing pet or the truth about a cheating partner. And the truth I found for your wife gave her piece of mind. I'd do that without any monetary reward attached."

"This court is in recess until tomorrow morning. Take her to the room," the voice ordered.

Emily knew her explanation had not been well received, and she heard retreating footsteps, but couldn't catch a glimpse of the voice's source. When the two young men untied her, Emily's mind made a valiant effort to fight them, but her body disagreed. She was locked in a small room with impossibly high walls, a maze of old pipes running along one wall and a steel door that had no knob on the inside. There was also one empty bucket and one filled with cool, clean water. Emily cupped her hand and drank as much as she could then attempted to clean her head wound, which she feared was infected. Feeling somewhat satiated by the water, Emily slumped to the concrete floor and cradled her head against one arm.

She fell asleep with a comforting picture in her mind's eye; the vision of Derek and Beth taking their nap together on her sofa.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 8

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Talking to Jared Hopkins earlier in the day hadn't yielded the team any leads. And the profile they delivered to the Seattle, and surrounding area, police had felt stilled, to say the least. Now, as Morgan and Hotch stood in the open doorway of the Meyer-Brennan home, they were both hoping for a major break in the case. The house's exterior was a classic Tudor design and probably recently remodeled from what Derek could tell. Situated high upon the north Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, the downtown skyline was clearly visible from their front yard. Under a cover of darkness, skyscrapers sparkled like stars, dotted here and there by interior lights. Derek guessed they were paying for location as well as the fancy house.

A short, pale woman stood in front of them, guarding the door with hands on her hips. "Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are not here," her tone was abrupt. "They had a work function to attend tonight. I don't expect them back for hours," she explained.

"Can we wait for them?" Hotch asked.

The woman frowned, causing deep lines to crease the sides of her pursed mouth. "If you wish," she finally relented and let them pass. The rustle of her skirt guided them into the formal sitting room to the left of the entry. "You can wait here."

With the housekeeper gone they glanced around the space, trying to glean information about the Meyer's from the things they surrounded themselves with. The room was large with a vaulted ceiling and double-story windows. There were expensive vases with fresh flowers and artwork that looked like it was worth more than either of them made in a year. The Meyer's had money and were proud to show it off, but there was an intimate feel to the room as well, not like the Kupfer place had been. A colorful quilt was draped over the back of a green sofa. And an antique piano resided in the far right corner with framed pictures positioned atop it. Pictures always made a house a home. Derek recalled all the photos Emily had in her house of Beth. That thought caused a bittersweet smile to settle upon his lips as he continued to profile the space.

"Who the hell are you guys?"

Hotch and Derek turned toward the male voice. A young man stood under the room's entryway arch. He was tall, fair-haired and muscular. His hair hung in his eyes and he was dressed in black jeans, a dark green t-shirt and leather jacket. Boots and black leather gloves rounded out his appearance. "Do you live here?" Hotch asked.

"Hell yeah," the boy answered. "Who are you?" he asked again.

Derek flashed his badge. "We're with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit," he announced, giving the kid their names as well.

"Shit, what'd the old man do this time?"

Morgan frowned at that comment. "I didn't catch your name?"

"Travis Meyer."

"Travis, has your father been in trouble with the law before?" Hotch inquired.

The kid wore a mysterious little smirk. "Nah, not really," he replied. "But, dude's a lawyer, you know? There's always cops and shit showing up at the house wanting to talk to him about a case. He defends some real assholes if you ask me. Not that anyone around here asks me much."

"Where've you been tonight?" Derek pressed on.

The boy leaned against the wood framed entryway. "Out," he crossed his arms.

Derek looked over his attire again. "And the gloves... you ride a motorcycle?"

"It's a Harley, VRSC series," Travis perked up, dropping his arms to his sides. "Got it as a gift for my High School graduation. Sometimes it's nice to have loaded parents who'd rather shove money and gifts at you than take the time to talk. I've never been much for talking anyhow."

"That's a hell of a nice bike," Derek was impressed. "How old are you?"

Travis grinned. "Am I on trial now?"

Morgan shook his head. "Just curious. Seems to me like maybe you should be in college, freshman year living in the dorms?"

"I'm nineteen, for the record," Travis informed them. "And I'm taking a year off to chill before I head down to school in California this fall."

Hotch picked up a small figurine and examined it. "Are you planning to study law, like your folks?"

"Hell no," the young man snarled. "I think I'll happily leave that to the first-born heir of this dysfunctional family. No, I'm headed to UC San Diego and I plan to major in three things; surfing, drinking and girls."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Have any idea when your folks will be home," he asked.

"They don't ask me much, don't tell me much either," Travis held up a hand and waved as he took a step backward. "Have a good time snooping around the joint."

The boy was well out of hearing range before Morgan made any comment, and then it was just one word. "Punk," he muttered.

"You think that's all it is?" Hotch questioned. "The kid's obviously got a pretty big chip on his shoulder. He could have reason to hurt the woman his father was having an affair with," he proposed. "Did you notice how he talked about his father defending creeps, but not his mother? They both work in criminal law, but maybe he favors his mother over his father. Could be that he's upset his father cheated on her."

Morgan shrugged at the possibility. "And why would he want to hurt Emily?"

"Maybe killing Lauren Kupfer wasn't enough to assuage his anger. So he directed that rage toward Emily for her part in messing with his family. I don't know, I could be reaching with all of this," Hotch admitted.

"We all are," Derek sighed.

Hotch nodded, knowing that their twenty-four hour mark had passed and they weren't much closer to finding Emily than when they'd landed that afternoon. "Should we stick around here and wait?"

"I've got nothing better to do. You?"

"You're sure you don't want to get back to Beth?"

Derek's heart seized a little every time he thought about the little girl and how upset she'd seemed earlier, missing her mama. "Silvia called me just before we headed up here. She said Emily's parents made it in safe. They all had dinner with Beth and put her to bed. She's asleep now, and Emily's parents are probably tired, so there's no reason for me to rush back there. And I'd rather keep rolling with this case."

"Okay," Hotch agreed, though he had a good feeling Derek was avoiding Emily's parents.

It was just after eleven o'clock when Charles Meyer arrived home, stumbling in to his house half drunk. He didn't seem overly shocked to find two FBI agents waiting for him; just sat down and listened as they began to fire off questions at him. "Did I love Lauren Kupfer?" he laughed loudly at that. "There was no love between us, but she was a hell-cat in the sack." He sat forward a little. "Did you know that sex with your wife after twenty-odd years of marriage is about as fun as watching paint dry." His obnoxious laugh clapped through the room again, like a distant thunder storm brewing.

"You know that Lauren is dead?" Hotch asked, trying to be patient with the obviously inebriated man. He kind of hoped his condition might work to their advantage.

"Sure, cops showed up at the office and asked questions all around," Meyer didn't seem fazed by the question or upset over her death. "Damn shame. She wasn't a half bad assistant, but better in bed," he chuckled.

Morgan could almost imagine his fist connecting with the man's jaw. "Were the two of you still together at the time of her disappearance?"

"Nope. Look, I already told the police all this. I'm sorry she had to die, but what can you do?"

Hotch was sick of dancing around the issue. He decided to stop pulling his punches, partially because they were running out of time, but mostly because Charles Meyer was an obvious asshole who didn't deserve their respect. "Did Lauren do something to upset you? Was it all an accident, how she died? You can tell us if it was an accident. Maybe you got into an argument and you ended up hurting her without meaning to," he attempted to set up a scenario for Meyer to confess to.

"I didn't kill Lauren. Are you crazy?" he stared at Hotch with half-mast eyes. "I called things off with her the second my wife's stupid PI woman found out about the affair. Because I knew _that_ evidence was going to cost me a small fortune in the divorce."

Derek clenched his teeth at Meyer's mention of a _stupid PI woman_. "Do you know Emily Stewart?"

"The bitch who snooped around in my business?" there was venom in his tone as he shook his head. "Not personally, but I wouldn't mind giving her a piece of my mind."

"Maybe you already have?" Hotch asked. "Did you take her somewhere to... I don't know, teach her a lesson? Maybe a little payback for telling your wife about the affair?"

"What the hell?" Meyer was suddenly looking a lot more sober. "No, I..."

"Mr. Meyer, Emily Stewart has been missing since yesterday. Her car was broken in to up in Everett and there was blood at the scene. She's been abducted. And it's all looking very similar to what happened to Lauren Kupfer a few weeks ago. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you? Because if she turns up dead, we'll be back here again banging down your door," Derek promised.

The man's blood-shot eyes grew wider by the second. "Shit," he swore. "No way... I didn't hurt anyone, let alone kill them. I may defend the scum of the earth, even money-rape them for all they've got, but murder... you've got the wrong guy. I have an alibi too."

"Where is your wife tonight, Mr. Meyer?" Hotch re-directed the questioning, even though he found it suspect the way Meyer had jumped on telling them he had an alibi. But he figured they could check out any supposed alibis later. "Your housekeeper said that the two of you were at some function tonight, but I didn't see her walk in with you. So, where is she?"

"How should I know?" Meyer replied, seeming a little more cooperative. "We went to the office function, but not together. And we didn't leave together either. You might try searching my former best friend, Craig Zingler's house out on Mercer Island," he suggested. "She's been screwing around with him behind my back a lot longer than I've ever been unfaithful to her. All of this private investigator crap was just her way of assuring that she'd get a good settlement in the divorce. If I could prove _her_ infidelity I'd throw her to the wolves."

Morgan wanted to wipe his hands of the whole damn case at that particular moment. He'd never heard about more people cheating on one another in a single day than he had the last ten hours or so. Of course, then he had to look his own demons square in the eye. The demons that reminded him about what he'd done to Tamara by being with Emily that one night. He still felt sick to his stomach about hurting both of them. But he couldn't walk away from the case, because Emily was still missing. And he wasn't ready to give up on her.

Hotch was done with the man too and they both left, happy to step out into the cool night air. It beat the heck out of the sticky atmosphere inside the Meyer home. "What the hell is wrong with the world?" Derek exhaled heavily as they climbed into the SUV.

Hotch sighed, settling into the driver's seat. "You really looking for an answer to that question?" He glanced over and saw Derek shake his head then lean it against the back of the seat. "I'm going to head back to the field office and send JJ and Rossi to the hotel to get some sleep. Maybe I'll see if Reid wants to go over a few things with me again tonight. But first, I'm dropping you at Emily's place. You need to get some rest, and you need to be there in the morning when your daughter wakes up," he ordered.

For once, Derek made no arguments to the contrary.

xxx

It was quiet and warm as he laid there letting the last remains of sleep float away. Morgan opened his eyes and regarded his quilt covered body. He'd slunk into Emily's house just after midnight, hadn't bothered turning on any lights, kicked off his shoes and had fallen into a heap on her sofa. The sleep had been fitful, but somewhat restful as well. However, Derek was confident that he'd only had a small afghan to cover up with last night. Now a blue and white quilt stared back at him and he had no idea who'd covered him up. But the smell of coffee and bacon stirred him from any further thoughts of that unimportant mystery. Derek pushed the quilt back, swung his legs over the side of the sofa and got to his feet.

Emily's kitchen was occupied by just one person; her mother, dressed in a robe and slippers. Derek suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. He also couldn't help wondering if she'd been the one to cover him up. It certainly seemed like a very motherly thing to do. Morgan recalled meeting the woman once before, when she'd brought a case to them. They hadn't interacted much then, and he'd always sensed that Emily's relationship with her parents was tenuous. But Morgan spotted something outside that led him to believe his daughter's birth might have been a catalyst for changing the Prentiss family dynamic, for the better.

He watched Beth smile contentedly in her swing as a tall man stood behind her, pushing. "She'd stay out there all day if she could," Elizabeth Prentiss spoke, letting him know she'd sensed his presence behind her.

"That's what Emily says," Derek replied.

The woman turned around to face him. "We thought having her play outside this morning would help keep the house quiet for you. I imagine it was a late night. Would you like some coffee?" she offered, holding a full mug out to him.

"Thanks," Morgan took the offering but glanced out the window again. "Maybe I should check on her?" he inched toward the back door.

"Why don't you eat something first," Elizabeth suggested.

Morgan was just about to protest when his stomach betrayed him, letting free a large growl. He realized then that he hadn't eaten since breakfast the morning before, just before Silvia had called and brought the world down on his shoulders. Derek relented and sat at the table while Emily's mother, an ambassador who'd traveled and lived all over the world, served him bacon and eggs. It felt a little surreal. "This is good," he remarked after swallowing a few bites.

"I do cook, occasionally," the woman smiled softly. Her mood took a sudden down-shift after that, though. "Are you going to find her?"

Derek sat up straighter, abandoning his food for a moment. Her voice had cut through him like a knife; the vulnerability a sharp contrast to the strong woman that she presented to the world. But, when it came to one's children, it seemed every parent was subject to feeling helpless at some point. That was something he'd been quickly learning. "Yes," he replied with utmost certainty.

She relaxed a little to hear his answer, even if it was false hope. "We don't hate you, if that's what you're thinking," Elizabeth told him a few moments later once he'd resumed eating. "I know that we avoided your calls after Emily left the BAU, but she asked us not to talk to you. I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but, as a parent you just try to do your best to love and protect your children."

"I guess I can understand that," Derek replied, trying not to make any snap judgments.

"We want to protect Beth, too," she let him know. "I'm not sure if she's in danger because of all this. But there's been some media coverage already," Elizabeth handed him the local morning paper. "And I'd rather she not be exposed to that mess. We want to take her back to DC with us today."

Morgan stopped eating again, pushing his plate away. His first instinct was to object, but Derek clamped down that reflex as he read the short story on Emily's disappearance and the possible connection to Lauren Kupfer's case. He found himself slowly nodding in agreement. "JJ has tried to keep the media's actions to a minimum on this, but..." As much as he hated the thought of his daughter being so far away again, he'd feel better knowing she was out of harm's way. And he'd be able to fully concentrate on Emily. "Maybe it would be for the best. If you're sure, I know you just got back from France and then the flight out here..."

"We've flown so much in our lives, its really not an issue. And we've traveled with Emily and Beth before. Bethy is a great traveler. I think she'll be fine," Elizabeth declared. "But, I want you to know we're not trying to take her away from you. If, God forbid..." she gulped down her fear. "If something where to happen to Emily, Beth would go to you. It's in Emily's Will. And we rather like being grandparents, we get to spoil her and then hand her back," she smiled.

Derek was surprised to hear about Emily's Will, though thankful too. And the ambassador's words also made him think about his mother, how he hadn't even told her about being a grandparent yet. With everything that was going on, he hadn't had time to call her and properly explain things. His thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the back door. As the tall man entered, Derek noted that Emily resembled her mother much more. Yet he saw hints of his daughter in the man's features. Morgan watched as he gently let his hand rest against his wife's back while kissing her cheek. Derek recalled his conversation with JJ and Reid the day before, when he hadn't been sure how happily married Emily's parents were. They certainly seemed amiable enough, though he had to wonder if recent circumstances were playing a role in their current closeness. He knew the last few days had put things in perspective for him, like the fact that very little mattered at the moment other than finding Emily alive.

The man took one look at Derek, strode across the room and thrust his hand in front of Morgan with forceful ease. "I'm Joseph, Emily's father," he introduced himself.

Morgan shook, giving his full name, "Derek Morgan."

"Yes, I figured as much. Beth has your eyes, albeit a smaller version," Joseph grinned. "Speaking of which..." he pointed over his shoulder. "That little princess outside has been asking for her daddy since she woke up. As long as I keep pushing the swing, she's pretty content, but I'm still no stand-in for the real deal." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "I understand that you'll want to be getting back to Emily's case, and I can't thank you enough for coming out here. There's nothing I'd like more right now than to wrap my arms around my own little princess, but I really think you ought to spend a few minutes with your daughter this morning," he concluded.

Derek didn't need any prodding as he easily took the older man's advice. He walked outside and let his bare feet slap against the lightly dew-covered grass. The weather was actually much warmer than it had been over the weekend. Sun was already happily shinning down from a blue sky, and Derek grinned when his daughter's eyes shinned just as brightly to see him. "Good morning, sweetheart," he kissed her cheek and then stood behind her and pushed the swing. Every time she neared him, Beth craned her neck backward to look up at him. And Derek leaned forward to blow her kisses.

Father and daughter enjoyed the morning air for a half hour before the back door opened and the rest of the BAU team tromped out to meet them beneath the large oak tree. "Hi, weed," Beth greeted the one person in the group she remembered.

Spencer Reid's cheeks flushed a few different shades of red. "Actually," he stooped down, closer to where the girl was. "It's Reid. With an R," he tried to explain. "You see, a weed is a type of plant that's considered undesirable or troublesome. They grow were they're not wanted. Also, it's used as a slang term for mar... "

JJ gently smacked the back of his head. "She's two years old."

The doctor shrugged indifferently as his eyes remained focused on the child. "Or you could try, Uncle Spencer," he prompted the girl.

"Unca Spacey!" Beth exclaimed.

"Oh, I agree," Rossi chuckled. "That's much better than weed."

Even Hotch cracked a smile at that. Standing there watching Derek push his daughter in a swing, it was easy to forget that Emily's life was in grave danger. But every second she remained missing was another second closer to her possible dead. That realization brought everything back into perspective for the team leader. "We still have no solid evidence, but I keep coming back to Charles Meyer being involved in this." With nodding heads all around, he broke down their orders. "Dave and I will shadow Meyer. JJ and Reid, I want you to talk with Louise Brennan. It seems she's not quite the innocent player in all this that we originally thought. That is if we can trust anything that came out of Meyer's drunken mouth last night."

"I've also been thinking more about what you said in regards to Travis Meyer last night," Derek spoke up. "I think we should keep an eye on him, too. I could handle that on my own," he offered.

"Actually," Hotch countered. "Emily's parents just told us they're taking Beth to DC with them today. I think you should go with them," he told Derek.

The suggestion didn't bother Morgan, but he had no intention of proceeding in that manner. "I agree with them that it will be good for Beth to be out of harm's way, but I'm not leaving until I find Emily," he let his boss know.

"Don't you think she needs her father right now?" Hotch asked as the others stayed silent.

Derek remained perfectly calm, still pushing his daughter back and forth. "What she really needs right now is to have her mother back, and I'm going to make that a reality for her. Do not try to fight me on this, Hotch. You won't win," he maintained his stance.

Hotch could see the solid determination in Derek's eyes. He admired it, but at the same time it scared the Unit Chief. Because it reminded him way too much of himself when Foyet had taken Haley and Jack. He understood the kind of mad rage that ensued when your loved ones were in danger. Hotch wished he could protect Derek from that, but he knew he couldn't. "Make sure that Beth and Emily's parents get away safely. Then you can keep an eye on Travis Meyer." He addressed the whole team after that, though his message was more for Morgan's sake than the others. "Let's be sure to keep in close contact at all times today."

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 9

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Several layers of duct tape were cutting off the circulation in her wrists and ankles as she once more attempted to use the sun to determine what time of day it was. She was thankful for all those summers spent in the French Alps with her grandfather who'd taught her some basic survival techniques. Emily guessed it was mid-afternoon again and wondered if there was a reason for that. Maybe it coincided with a time that was convenient for her abductors. Which lead her to start pondering if they had jobs or other pressing business that kept them to a schedule. She hadn't slept that well on the cold concrete floor, but the sleep she had gotten was making her head feel much clearer. Which made trying to figure out what was going on far less confusing. Emily found herself re-thinking some matters all together. Like her previous guess about Charles Meyer being the one holding her captive.

The two young men had restrained her to the chair again, but for a while there was no shadowy figure behind the screen. Now, as she carefully listened to the approaching footsteps, Emily further reevaluated her prior assumptions. The steps were different than the ones she'd heard earlier as the thugs had drug her from the room out into their make-shift courtroom. Theirs had been thudding boot clomps. But the ones she heard now were a softer clicking sound; lighter footfalls. Almost more like a woman in high heels. Her heart jumped into her throat at that realization. It changed a lot of things in the profile she'd been working on in her head. A single male UnSub would be less likely to have bailiffs helping him out. But a woman might certainly need such help for keeping a prisoner subdued.

"You're not Charles Meyer. I was wrong," Emily made a preemptive strike.

A few minutes later the voice finally replied. "You're not to speak unless spoken to."

"You could be Louise Brennan?" Emily mussed, pressing on despite the warning that had just been made. "You certainly seem to know the law."

"Who I am is not important."

Emily thought the mechanical voice almost sounded worried. And the issue was important. It actually mattered a great deal to her. "I don't think that's right either, is it?" she posed her words as a question, but left no pause for a reply. "You stated before that you're upset about your family falling apart, and also that Louise would have been better off not knowing the truth. So, you being Louise doesn't make much sense. Unless you were trying to throw me off track. In which case I have to wonder if you, Louise, really do care about your family or not?"

"Of course Louise Brennan cares about her family," the voice grew defensive. "She loves her husband. And she loves her children. She never wanted her family destroyed."

"Children." That word instantly got stuck in Emily's head and wouldn't let go. She was finally starting to get somewhere and it made much more sense than either of her two other guesses. "That's it, isn't it? You're not Charles or Louise, you're their child," Emily declared. "I understand that you're upset. You feel like your family will never be the same again after what your father did, but..."

"You don't know how I feel!" the voice shouted. "Stop trying to be sympathetic. Stop trying to figure things out!"

Emily knew she'd hit a nerve. She couldn't let the conversation end either, she needed to try another tactic. "I have a child," Emily blurted out. She was somewhat afraid that her captors might try to use the information to find Beth and hold her as a pawn. But greater than that fear, Emily believed Derek was with Beth and she knew he'd never let anything happen to the girl. "I have a daughter," Emily continued, following a hunch. "She's just two years old. And she's probably scared and confused by all of this, wondering where her mama is."

"I already knew you had a daughter." The voice sounded proud. "I know more about you than you realize. Lawyers are good at research too, not just PIs."

Worry filled Emily's mind again, but she had to keep believing that Beth was safe. And she had to keep trying to find some way to break through. "You were upset about what your father did to your mother and it led you to make a mistake. But if you admit your mistake, if you help right this wrong and let me go free, then I'll speak on your behalf. I think the police will be lenient. I can talk to them, help them understand that what happened was just..."

"It's too late for all of that," the voice stopped her, settled and calm again. "Lauren Kupfer is dead. The police won't be lenient about that."

A rush of panic pooled in Emily's stomach as she finally came to realize just what she was up against. "Did you kill her?"

"I had no choice. She hurt my family. And if you're found guilty of hurting my family as a result of your actions, then you'll have to die too."

xxx

Derek glanced out the windshield of his SUV again, making sure Travis Meyer's bike hadn't moved since the last time he'd checked ten minutes ago. He was parked along the tree-lined residential street, just a few houses down the block from where Travis had arrived over three hours ago. The kid had been greeted at the door by a young woman and they'd disappeared inside the house not to be seen again since. Thanks to Garcia's quick sleuthing, they knew the girl's name and that her parents were on a week-long trip to Hawaii. Morgan aimed his attention back to the cell phone perched on the dash. "What do you think they've been doing in there all this time?"

"_Oh, my lovely..._" Garcia chuckled softly. "_If you can't make an educated guess about that, maybe your profiler instincts _are_ a little rusty. Or perhaps it's just been way too long since you've used that chiseled body for anything other than..._"

"Alright, alright..." Morgan stopped her short. "I think I get the idea," he shook his head. "I guess I just really worked myself into believing that this kid might be a lead, because we seem to be going nowhere else fast. And sitting on my ass makes me feel completely useless," he lamented. "So, what about you? Is there anything else in Emily's files that might be helpful?"

"_Well,_ _I just found another lost dog case. That must make at least three dozen. Do you know if there's much money to be made from finding lost dogs?_" she wondered aloud, before rattling off some of Emily's notes on the case. "_German Shepherd and owner happily reunited. The owner also invited me to a welcome home party for the dog, and maybe I've turned into a big softy since becoming a parent, but I took Beth to the dog's party. And we actually had a really good time_."

Morgan smiled for a moment at the images those words conjured up. But he felt something snap inside a second later. Suddenly, the only thought stuck in his head was that clichéd saying about not knowing what you've got until its gone. It was coupled by the fact that he'd said good-bye to his little girl at the airport earlier in the day. And it seemed like he'd said far too many good-byes to her in just a short period of time. "Damn-it, Garcia!" he hit the steering wheel with the palms of his hands. "We passed the thirty-six hour mark and are coming up real quickly on forty-eight. And all we've got right now is some horny kid and stupid lost dogs!"

"_Hey, no, no..._" Garcia could hear the mix of frustration and sorrow creeping in to his voice. "_Don't go there, okay?_"

But it was already too late. "I can not tell my two year old daughter that her mother's dead." Derek sucked in a breath as he tried to steady his voice. "I can't do that, Penelope. I can't tell her that the last words I ever said to Emily were horrible lies spoken in the heat of an argument. Or that I never got to apologize. I can't tell Beth that her mother died thinking I..."

"_Derek, please don't do this..._" the woman felt tears prick her eyes as she tried to steer him away from the dark place his mind had slipped to. She'd actually been expecting a melt down, but she hadn't anticipated how much it would break her heart. "_Hey, just tell me one thing right now... do you _really_ believe Emily is dead?_"

It only took him a second to answer. "No, I don't."

"_Good_," Penelope knew it wasn't a lost cause. "_Then I will stick with you on this until the sun explodes if that's how long it takes us to find her. In three years time, did I ever once tell you it was stupid or futile to keep searching for Emily?_"

He wore a small smile now as the darkness receded a little. "No, even though Kevin probably wanted to strangle me a few times."

"_Oh, darling... it was way more than a few_," Garcia corrected her dear friend. "_But he loves me, and there's a lot of room for forgiveness in love. Now, let's both put our brilliant minds back in this and find Emily_."

Derek took several deep breaths. He knew for a fact he'd be lost without Penelope Garcia at his back. "Okay, Hotch seems pretty convinced that this is all connected to the Meyer family or that law firm in some way. And I trust his instincts, so..." he started to conjure up some more productive thoughts. "We've got Charles Meyer who seems like the most likely candidate to be our bad guy. But he doesn't strike me as the type to do his own dirty work. However, he has access to some of societies worst scumbags, plus he's got money..."

"_Plenty enough to pay someone to do the dirty work for him_," she followed his line of thought.

"Exactly." Derek agreed.

"_Okay then,_" Garcia dove in to the new search criteria. "_Accessing bank records to see if he's made any sizable withdrawals from... wow, okay... this guy's got a lot of money. Accounts are popping up all over the place. I don't know, but it doesn't seem to me like even private practice will get you moola like this,_" she kept up a running dialogue as she searched. "_Aha! It looks like Meyer inherited family money, a whole heaping bunch of it. And he's been a good little investor too... he's got stocks, real estate, several CDs..._"

"Try checking joint accounts with his wife and even any that she might have opened on her own," Derek suggested as another thought came to mind. "Somehow, I wouldn't put it past this guy to try and frame his wife for what happened to Lauren Kupfer. He is not a happily married man, and he thinks his wife hired Emily in order to get more money out of him in a divorce."

"_Alright-y... there are a few joint accounts; savings and credit, there are also two expense credit accounts for the firm, and another private account in her maiden name. Nothing unusual is coming up on Meyer's end. And I'm not finding any activity anywhere that seems out of the ordinary for Louise Brannan. Unless you consider three-hundred dollar shoes out of the ordinary. Personally, I consider that deliciously decadent retail-therapy. I mean, if you can afford it, what the hell._"

Morgan sighed. "Come on, Garcia, find me something useful. Check Travis Meyer's financial history too."

"_Certainly..._" her fingers danced over the keys again for several minutes. "_Well, it looks like he has a whopping two hundred dollars in a checking account. He's also got a massive trust fund, but won't be granted access to that fortune until age twenty-one,_" she reported.

Derek let out a frustrated groan. "Then we've got to be missing something big here," he closed his eyes for a second and tried to jump-start his mind again. "Meyer and Brennan... both work for a law firm... obviously know the ins and outs of criminal law... could probably circumnavigate it in their sleep..." None of that was helping much, except that it did finally jostle a small memory of something Travis had said the night before, when Hotch had asked if he was going to follow in his parent's footsteps and study law. _I think I'll happily leave that to the first-born heir of this dysfunctional family_. Derek's eyes snapped open again. "Garcia, who is the Meyer's eldest child?

"_You mean the unlikely preemie?_" she made short work of finding that answer for him. "_Her name is Teresa._"

"Her?" Derek's heart pounded a little faster as he pondered the possibility and quickly re-worked the profile in his head. "Who might be the most upset about a guy messing around on his wife, aside from the wife? Who would be most affected by that upheaval in their family life?"

"_Their children?_" she guessed.

"Yes," Morgan nodded to himself. "And Travis Meyer is definitely carrying around some serious animosity toward his parents. But the more I think about it... surfing, drinking and girls," he recalled the boy's three planned college majors. "Taking a year off to chill... it seems more like he's just trying to escape all the craziness of his family life," Derek concluded. "Give me everything you've got on Teresa Meyer."

"_Okie-dokie..._" Penelope dutifully went back to digging. "_She is... twenty-three years old. According to her driver's license she's five foot six inches tall, one-hundred and thirty pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. Very pretty girl who looks a lot like her dad. She graduated from the University of Washington with honors last spring, earning two bachelor degrees in History and Political Science. The girl doesn't seem to have gotten anything below an A- in her entire school history going back as far as the first grade. There's actually very little she's interested in other than school and good grades. Plus she's got awards up the yin-yang to prove it. Ms. perfect-student is currently in her first year of law school at Seattle University, clearly following in her parents footsteps. Lives in a house about six blocks from the SU campus with two roommates, Amy Downing and Kyle Collins. House is owned by her parents._"

"What about _her_ finances?" Derek further prodded.

"_Teresa's checking account is about as measly as her brother's, but it seems that mommy and daddy are paying for all school expenses, so I guess that tracks. And there's no evidence that any major withdrawals have been made recently. She also has one credit card with a current balance of $52.50 on it from a purchase at the campus book store."_ Garcia then hunted down one more thing she was sure she'd find._ "Gotcha... Teresa also has a very hefty trust fund like Travis, but she gained access to it two years ago. And you're not going to like this... four weeks ago she removed ten thousands dollars from that account. Three days ago, another ten grand was withdrawn._"

Derek felt the fingers of his right hand twitch in anticipation of starting the SUV and finally following a solid lead. "So, if her parents are paying for school and she doesn't seem to have any life outside of school... where's that money going?"

"_Probably not anywhere we're going to like, unless she has even more expensive taste in shoes than her mother,_" Garcia replied. "_I'm sending her address to your cell as I speak._"

"Good." He sat up and turned the key in the ignition. "Do you have a recent update on where everyone is?"

"_Yes I do..._ _JJ and Reid are back at the field office with Casey,_" she began. "_They're still checking out alibis for Louise Brennan, Craig Zingler, and some of the others at the law firm. Hotch and Rossi are sticking close to Charles Meyer and, at last check, they were waiting for him outside a building in Bellevue where we know he was meeting a client. Bellevue is way the heck to your east with a bunch of water in between. So you are definitely the closest to Teresa's address. Should I contact JJ and Reid, have them meet you there?_"

"Yeah, that'd probably be best," he agreed. "After what happened this morning, I'd rather not have Hotch accuse me of being the lone ranger."

"_Playing it safe?_" Penelope questioned. "_I think maybe becoming a parent has made you soft too._"

"Never," Derek denied with a chuckle, even though he knew his thoughts had barely stopped dwelling on Beth all day since she'd left. He was finding out that having a child really did change all of your priorities in life. "Hey, thanks for all your help, girl. I couldn't have done it without you."

"_I know,_" she shot back. "_Keep in touch and be safe._"

"Always. I'll talk to you soon." Morgan signed off, pulled a tight u-turn and sped toward his destination a few blocks away.

xxx

Teresa's house was a two-story hip-roofed structure, dark green with white trim and a white-washed front porch that spanned the entire width of the facade. Morgan leapt from his vehicle and kept one hand against the gun at his side as he crossed the short distance from curb to front door. He peeked inside the living room window to the left of the door. The curtains were wide open and he noted the sparse interior decor, but couldn't spot anyone mulling about inside. The old single-pane glass window was rattling softly, though, which led him to believe that somewhere within the house music was being played at a rather high volume. Derek knocked on the door. A few seconds later he pounded much louder, hoping to be heard over the sound of the music.

Another couple of minutes later the front door finally swung open and a young man in a pair of hastily fastened jeans and no shirt stared back at him. "Are you Kyle Collins?" Derek inquired, recalling the male roommate's name. The thump of the music grew nearly twice as loud with the door opened.

"Nope," the dark-haired boy answered.

"Do you live here?" Morgan wondered if he or Garcia hadn't gotten the address wrong.

"Nope."

Morgan sighed. "What's your name, son?" He was not in the mood to deal with stupid college kids.

"Seth."

"Seth, if you don't live here what are you doing here?"

"Nothing."

Derek was about ready to throttle the one-answer wonder when someone else came bounding down the stairs. It was a young woman dressed in pajama shorts and a tank top. She had shoulder length blonde hair, but Morgan noticed her eyes looked more green than blue. Still he had to ask, "Are you Teresa Meyer?"

The girl shook her head. "No, sir. My name is Amy Downing, this is my boyfriend Seth Thompson. Teresa's my roommate. What can I do for you?"

He was thankful of her much friendlier and respectful manner than that of her lousy choice in boyfriend. "I'm Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan with the FBI," he showed them both his badge. "I'm looking for Teresa."

"Sorry," the girl replied. "She's not due home for another hour, maybe. Her Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule has her in class until 6pm, sometimes later if she goes to study group after her lectures. That's why we're enjoying a little music at the moment, while we can. Teresa's not much for music, or any kind of noise... or anything that gets in the way of her studying. Is she in some kind of trouble?"

"Is her room upstairs?" Derek asked, evading the question. "I'd like to have a look around."

Amy frowned, but nodded. "I guess that'd be fine. Hers is the last door on the right after you turn left at the top of the stairs," she let him know.

Morgan entered the house, pushing past them. He was just at the bottom landing of the stairs when he turned back to face the two young people. "Don't go anywhere," he told them. "I might have some more questions for you."

"Sure," Amy agreed. "We'll be in my room."

He took off up the stairs, but could hear their chatter behind him as they followed him up. Derek didn't have to stretch his imagination very far to guess what they'd been doing in her room before answering the door. Their attire, or lack thereof, and actions spoke volumes. The music grew increasingly louder as he climbed the stairs, and it shook the old wooden floor boards as he reached the top landing. Straight across from the stairway was a small round window that looked out onto the back yard. He turned left there and worked his way toward the room he'd been instructed was Teresa's. But he was sure to note which door Amy and Seth ducked behind, though he probably could have just followed the music to that source.

Teresa's door squeaked softly as he pushed it open. Hardwood floors flowed from the hall into the bedroom as well, with a few bright throw rugs here and there. A full sized bed was draped with an old quilt and one long wall was banked with bookcases, floor to ceiling. Every shelf was full, with books ranging from literature and history to law, and even religion. The other walls were covered with framed photos in perfect order. Derek recognized the Meyer clan, who featured prominently in all of them. They certainly seemed to know how to fake happy-family smiles for the camera. Or maybe, he thought, there had been a time when they really were happy.

Her closet was filled with clothes and shoes, mostly in shades of brown and red. Everything was folded neatly or hanging and arranged in an organized fashion. There was another door at the left corner of the room and Derek found a small bathroom behind it. It was about five foot square with sink, toilet and even included a corner shower. The place was pretty much spotless, not even a wet towel in sight. He was just about to exit the room when he thought to glance behind the bathroom door, thinking there might be a linen closet. That's when his stomach decided to rise into his throat. The back of the door was covered in pictures and newsprint articles, behavior he'd seen before at other UnSub hideouts. But there was one thing in particular that chilled him to the bone.

Derek pulled out his cell and dialed JJ. "Where the hell are you guys?" he asked the second she answered.

"_Only about two miles away, but it's almost 5pm and this traffic is ridiculous,_" the woman behind the wheel replied. "_Hotch called a few minutes ago, you don't even want to know what they're dealing with trying to get back here across that I-90 bridge. Sounds worse than DC rush hour._"

"_What have you got?_" Reid asked.

"A female law student who's smart, meticulous and seems to be out for revenge. Right now I'm standing in her bathroom and she's got photos of Lauren Kupfer with her father tacked to the back of the door. Lauren's head is crossed out with a red X in most of them. There's also a bunch of pictures with Emily. They look like some fairly amateurish shots, but there's one of..." Derek tried to quell his anger, but it wasn't working very well. "She's got a damn picture of my daughter taped to this wall with some words written beneath it: pari passu. Whatever the hell that means."

"_It's Latin, often used as a law term. It means: on an equal footing_." Reid explained.

"_I take it Teresa's not home?_" JJ asked.

"No," Morgan replied as he walked back through the room and out into the hall.

"_Okay, we'll be there as soon as we can,_" JJ promised.

Derek moved toward Amy's room. "Get out and run if you have to," he responded just before hanging up. Morgan was only half kidding. He quickly made another call.

"_Hey, I was just about to contact you,_" Garcia answered. "_I found a class schedule for Teresa. She has three morning classes on Wednesdays. One from 7:30am to 8:30am. A second, 9:00am to 10:00am. And the third is from 10:30 to 11:30_."

"What about her evening class?"

"_There's not one on Wednesdays_," Garcia replied. "_Actually, she's got all morning classes. Tuesdays and Thursdays she has two classes, last one ends at noon._"

He sighed. "Then either Amy lied to me, or Teresa lied to her, and I'm guessing the latter is true. I need you to do something else for me right now, Garcia. Call Emily's parents and make sure they got in safe. Then tell them that you're going to have two agents sent to their place. This girl has..." Morgan trailed off when he spotted something through the window at the end of the hall. "There's a vehicle pulling up in the back yard," he told her. "Do you know if Teresa has a car, and if so, what kind?"

"_Yes..._" she replied. "_And it is... a 2007 Ford Focus. Red one with..._"

"I think I've got her!" He edged toward the stairs.

"_Derek, you should wait for..._"

Morgan didn't hear the rest of what she said as he closed his phone, but he could guess at her warning. He didn't have time to wait, though. He placed the phone in the holder at his waist and drew his weapon. He rushed down the stairs and turned toward the back of the house. A short hallway gave way to a newly updated kitchen. The bank of windows against the south wall gave him a good view of the yard as he made his way to the back door. Derek watched two figures move from the car toward a small storage shed near the alleyway. The shade from a giant fir tree cast both people in shadow, but the height and weight of the shorter figure seemed consistent with what Garcia has reported for Teresa. He waited until they slipped inside before he snuck up along the west side of the shed.

With his back pressed against the metal structure, Derek could hear the murmur of voices through the wall. He couldn't make anything out, though. Without further delay, he swung around and slammed his foot against the door, causing it to nearly swing off its hinges. "FBI!" he announced, keeping his weapon drawn, but low, unless provoked. He eyed the shorter person and was almost certain about her identity. "Teresa Meyer?"

"Do you have a search warrant?" she instantly asked, seeming calm enough as she stood beside a tall man.

Derek inspected the young man. He was about an inch shorter than himself with a slight build, but still very muscular, like the body of an endurance runner. His dark, wavy hair looked like it could use a good wash and he wore a white t-shirt, green cargo pants and black boots. Teresa looked much more business like in her brown slacks and red blouse. Her blonde hair was pulled back and bunched up into a messy sort of bun atop her head. "No, I don't," he finally answered. Neither one of them looked at all nervous, which worried Morgan a little. He lowed the gun even more in a show of trust. "I'd just like to ask you a few questions. If that's okay?"

"If you don't have a warrant, I'd like you to leave," Teresa replied.

"If you have nothing to hide, then you should have no problem with answering some questions," Morgan countered as he stole a glance out the small shed window and noticed a dark vehicle parked in the alley.

He almost felt relief wash over him, thinking JJ and Reid had finally made it. But the blow he felt lance across the back of his head told Derek they'd had another friend in hiding. He fell to the ground from the force of the hit, but Derek rolled onto his back and aimed his gun. One shot struck the sandy haired young man standing above him in the shoulder. The kid stumbled backward, but Derek felt a powerful kick knock the gun out of his hands. Then a large piece of metal piping was arching its way toward his head. He put his hands up to block the strike and attempted to wrestle the pipe out of the dark-haired man's grip.

A few seconds later something solid collided with his left shoulder, which caused him to lose the upper hand he'd gained in the struggle. His left arm tingled and fell limp at his side. That's when the pipe came at him again and ripped across the right side of his forehead and down his face. Derek lunged toward the guy, even as his eyesight began to grow blurry and his stomach sloshed. He swung at the kid, but his punch went wide, missing the boy by a long shot. His vision continued to fade and one more blow came from behind, laying him out flat.

He'd been ambushed. He hadn't listened to Garcia. He hadn't waited. He watched through the narrow slits of his eyelids as Teresa stood above him with his gun in hand. He whispered a few soft words. "I'm sorry... Emily... Beth." He knew he'd failed them both.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 10

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Hotch and Rossi entered the back yard and instantly headed toward JJ who was standing beside a lowered gurney. It had taken them a half hour to get there after her call, even using their sirens to punch through traffic. Two paramedics were tending to the man, one crouched down on either side of him. Hotch noticed the grimace of pain that arced across the sandy-haired kid's face as his shoulder was swabbed. That distress made him just a little bit happy, but he knew the feeling wasn't going to get Emily and Derek back any quicker. In his head he could see little Beth as she'd been earlier that day, smiling while Derek pushed her on the swing. That memory helped spurn him on.

"What's your name?" Hotch question, but the boy looked away.

"He hasn't said a word since we got here," JJ informed them.

Rossi squatted and turned the kid's head toward him. "That wasn't an optional question. A woman has been missing for two days and now a Federal Agent has disappeared. This is about as serious as your life is ever going to get, so I suggest you start talking."

"I don't know anything," the young man finally spoke.

"You've got a bullet in your shoulder, but you don't know anything?" Dave shook his head.

"Let's start over," Hotch suggested. "What's your name?"

"Daniel Collins."

"Any relation to the Kyle Collins who lives here?" JJ inquired.

The boy nodded, his cooperation slowly bleeding outward. "He's my older brother," Daniel revealed. "Look, I was just here to meet with Teresa and her friend, see if maybe I was interested in the job they were offering. When I arrived I saw someone in the doorway and I thought he was going to hurt them, so I hit him. I thought I was helping. I didn't realize he was an FBI agent."

"Back up," Hotch caught something in the boy's condensed synopsis. "What kind of job was Teresa offering you? And who's her friend?"

Daniel winced as the paramedics wrapped his shoulder. "My brother said Teresa paid him five thousand dollars for each job he helped her with."

"Five thousand dollars to commit murder?" Dave asked.

The kid's eyes widened. "No, Kyle wouldn't do that. He was just hoping to make some easy cash. Not everyone at this school is a spoiled rich kid, you know? Kyle and I lost our parents years ago. We lived with our grandmother until she died last summer. We've gotten measly scholarships, but it's not enough. I just want to get a degree and find a decent job. Maybe not have to live month to month like my grandma did."

Hotch believed the story, though it didn't justify being stupid. "There's rarely such a thing as easy cash, Daniel. Do you know who Teresa's friend is?" he asked again.

"I never met him, but Kyle said his name was Steve... maybe Scott?"

"No last name?" Rossi pushed.

"I never heard one," Daniel replied.

The paramedics raised the gurney. "We need to be going," they announced.

"Daniel, is there anything else you can tell us?" Hotch asked. "Do you know where they might be hiding out, or at least what they were driving?"

"I didn't actually see them leave. I was in and out, but I'm pretty sure I heard my van take off," he revealed.

JJ looked to Hotch. "Reid and I didn't find any vans nearby."

"It's a work van," Daniel offered more on his own. "I deliver furniture part-time. It's a black Chevy, 1994, 95 maybe. It has a gold logo on it with the words: Wallace Furniture. And I probably just lost that job," he lamented. "Kyle never told me where they might be holding anyone."

"Do you know where Kyle is right now?" Rossi asked.

"No, and we don't own cell phones," he answered. "All our money goes toward school. I'm sorry. Am I going to jail?"

Hotch sighed, knowing the kid thought he'd been doing the right thing. "Right now you're going to the hospital. After that, you'll probably be charged with assault. I don't know about jail time," he decided not to sugar-coat things.

As they wheeled him toward the ambulance, Hotch turned to Dave. "Call that furniture company and get a plate number. Make sure an APB is sent out," he instructed. As Rossi wandered a short distance away to make his call, Hotch noticed the red car. "Is that Teresa's vehicle?"

JJ nodded. "Casey is bringing in a team to lift prints, should be here soon. An initial scan of the inside didn't produce anything useful." She guided him toward the storage shed and the two of them stepped inside. There were a few wood shelves and a small work bench in the center, but the whole place was pretty bare. On the work bench laid two items. "Derek's badge and cell phone," JJ pointed out.

"What about his weapon?" Hotch asked.

She shook her head. "We haven't been able to recover it."

"Which means our suspects most likely have a loaded gun with them," he concluded, looking at his watch. "And nearly an hour's lead on us. Where's Reid?"

"In the house," JJ answered as they headed that direction. "He's been searching Teresa's room and also talking to her other roommate, Amy, and Amy's boyfriend."

Hotch frowned. "They were here the whole time?"

"Oh, yeah. They were mostly naked when Reid and I practically broke down her bedroom door," JJ explained. "The music was so loud they didn't hear a thing. Apparently they let Derek in and left him alone to wander around. I love how kids think as soon as they turn eighteen they're responsible adults," she quipped as the two of them made their way up the stairs, down the hall and into Teresa's room. They found Reid there, staring at the pictures on the wall.

"I just talked to Garcia," Reid let them know.

"How is she?" JJ asked with genuine concern.

Spencer shrugged one shoulder. "Upset, but she wanted us to know that she sent the agents out to Emily's parent's place like Derek asked."

"Why would he do that?" Hotch questioned the order.

Reid directed them into the bathroom where he revealed Beth's picture on the door. "I gave him a translation for the words, but it was hard to know what Teresa was thinking without seeing the context. Derek reacted as any parent would, with caution." He ran a hand over some of the other pictures. "Beth's photo is separated from the others, isolated. I don't think Teresa ever planned to hurt Beth. The words: _on an equal footing_. It seems to me she's identifying with Beth."

Hotch arched a brow. "How so?"

"I think she sees herself as a child, an innocent person caught up in her parents mess," Reid informed them of his theory. "And the pictures on her wall out there," he waved a hand toward the main bedroom. "They all depict scenes from early childhood, up until around her thirteenth birthday. I'm guessing that was about the time her father started having an affair."

"Thirteen. Not a child any more, but not yet a woman," JJ thought it seemed significant.

Spencer nodded. "She's extremely bright, but her father's affair was akin to suffering a major trauma. Teresa's life has been stalled by it. She wants her family to stay the way it is in her mind; perfectly happy."

"You keep mentioning her father, but her mother admitted to both of you that she was having an affair," Hotch noted.

"True," Reid acknowledged. "But I doubt Teresa knows about that. She's focused only on her father and his side of what was done to bring down her family, which is why she went after Lauren and now Emily."

"Will she try to hurt her father?" JJ asked.

Reid pursed his lips. "I don't think so. She wants her parents together, which is why she's doing this; eliminating any obstacles for their eventual reunion. I think we should talk to her parents and brother. Ask them about places Teresa might have gone, places she'd feel safe."

"Good idea," Hotch agreed.

Rossi joined them in Teresa's room. "The delivery van is already accounted for. It was actually left behind the furniture store. They must have picked up another vehicle somewhere, maybe that other guy's car," he suggested.

Hotch nodded. "Dave, you and I are going to check out the van. Reid and JJ, stay here and get a hold of her parents. And talk to her roommate again, ask her and the parents if they know any Steve or Scott. I'm going to see if Garcia can trace Teresa's cell and maybe locate Kyle Collins. Keep in touch," Hotch reminded them. He knew Derek had been in as close contact as possible, and that if he'd waited for backup to deal with Teresa she might have gotten away anyhow. Morgan had done the best he could. Hotch felt like it was the team that had let him down by not being there.

xxx

She sat against the concrete wall, staring up at the flickering fluorescent light that let off a harsh glow. Emily had tried everything she could think of to get free. First there'd been kicking at the door, which never even budged for all her effort. Second she'd screamed her head off, thinking someone might be close enough to hear. Third had been to climb the wall covered in pipes to determine if there were any hidden vents or other exit possibilities. There hadn't been. In fact, there was just the one vent cover on the wall directly above her. It looked big enough to crawl through, but there was no way to reach it.

So she continued to sit with an unconscious Derek's head cradled in her lap. At least he wasn't dead, which had been her first thought when they'd tossed him into the room with her. Emily gently ran a damp cloth across his injured forehead. The cloth was actually a piece of her pant leg that she'd torn off to clean her own wounds the day before. She glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was just after 8pm, which meant Derek had already been with her for over two hours. And he hadn't stirred yet. And the BAU hadn't shown. And her captors hadn't been back. She wasn't sure what to think.

Emily leaned down, knowing there was only one thing she wished for at the moment, other than seeing her daughter. "Wake up, Derek. Please," her voice shook as she took a deep breath. "We can figure this out as long as you wake up," she encouraged.

xxx

JJ stifled a yawn, hoping that Reid wouldn't see. But he was too engrossed in the photos and articles that were spread across the living room floor. They'd sent Amy away for the night and commandeered Teresa's house to use as a base of operations. After extensive documentation of the bathroom door, Reid had been allowed to carefully remove items so he could better study them. He'd been sitting on the floor for over an hour just staring at all the information. "Maybe you should take a break," JJ finally suggested. "It's after midnight."

"If it was you trapped somewhere worrying about Henry, would you want us to take a break?" he asked her. "I barely slept last night, I won't sleep again until we find Derek and Emily," Reid declared. He only looked up briefly when Rossi and Hotch walked through the front door.

"What did you find?" JJ asked.

Rossi held out a red phone. "Garcia's trace led us to a dumpster at the Seattle Center, near the Space Needle. Teresa obviously left it there to evade us."

"Were you able to get anything out of her family?" Hotch asked.

"Not really," JJ answered with a scoff. "It's like they don't even know their own daughter. They couldn't remember any family outings in the area or favorite places she liked to hang out." The woman sighed. "I don't think they've been paying much attention to Teresa for the last ten years."

The team leader eyed Reid and then settled on JJ again. "You two should get some rest."

She pointed to Reid's back. "I already tried that," her head shook to indicate she hadn't been successful. "I don't think I can sleep either. They can't have gone far, right? All the professors I talked to earlier said Teresa's been in class all week. Sits right up front, hard to miss. So, they have to be within fairly close driving distance."

"We searched several local grids tonight and found nothing," Rossi spoke up.

JJ's cell rang. "I'm putting you on speaker," she let Garcia know.

"_Any word?_" Penelope asked first off.

"Not yet," Hotch replied. "What have you got?"

"_Well, I haven't found any match for the prints that were pulled from Teresa's car,_" Garcia relayed. "_Kyle Collins is a phantom. Other than his class registration, he barely exists. No cell phone, no credit cards. I can't find him... yet. Also, I went through every roster for Teresa's classes this semester. Found six guys with either first, middle or last name of Scott. Also pulled up eight with names having Steve in them._"

Hotch exhaled, knowing it would be a long night. "Why don't you forward us their contact information and we can make some calls."

"_Gotcha. I'm copying everyone, so check your phones. I'll keep searching for Kyle. If you need me, you know where to find me,_" she signed off.

It was four in the morning back there and Hotch knew she'd been running on less sleep than all of them, but she wasn't ready to give up. Neither were they. "All right, JJ start with the Scott's. Rossi and I will divide up the Steve's. I don't care how late it is, we need this information." He left Reid to his studying while the rest of them started making calls.

xxx

He opened his eyes. It took several attempts before they finally managed to focus. His head ached terribly, but was laying against something soft. When he saw her face, Derek thought he was probably hallucinating due to the nasty head wounds. "Emily?" He tried to sit up, but felt her hand push him down. His head settled back into its comfy position for a while longer. Morgan thought it was one of the nicest dreams he'd had in a long time. Until she opened her mouth.

"If you didn't have a giant knot on the back of your head I'd put one there for you," Emily let him know. Her previous worry quickly turned to anger the second she knew he was awake. "Where the hell is our daughter?" she demanded.

Derek didn't mind the irritation in her tone. He knew he'd rather have her yelling at him than the alternate possibility of finding her dead. "Beth's fine," he blinked as his vision still tried to adjust to the light. "She misses you like crazy, but she's a tough little cookie. Your parents took her to DC and I sent Silvia along with them. We all agreed that would be best, in case whoever took you tried to come after her."

"Good," Emily was finally able to breath a little easier upon hearing that. "I don't think she actually would have tried to hurt Beth, but I couldn't be sure."

"She?" Derek questioned. "So, you know for a fact it was Teresa Meyer?"

Emily shrugged. "After some deduction, I concluded it was probably a she, most likely the child of Louise and Charles Meyer. I didn't know her name, though. And she's been keeping her voice and physical appearance masked from me."

Morgan was impressed. "You profiled her?"

She nodded. "I guess it's like riding a bike."

"You did good, Emily." Derek sat up again and she didn't try to stop him. He leaned heavily against the wall beside her, their shoulders touching. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure," her tone was clearly sarcastic. "I've been abducted, put on trial and haven't seen my daughter in days. How the hell do you think I am?"

Derek realized he'd had that coming. "Right, stupid question," he acknowledged, gingerly rubbing the cut along his forehead. "How long have I been here?"

Emily pointed to his watch. "It's almost 6am. I honestly didn't think you were going to wake up," she let a small note of concern fill her voice, but quickly buried it. "What the hell are you doing here, Derek? What were you thinking? Did you come here by yourself?"

"No, I..." he paused. "I didn't come to Seattle alone. The team is here, they're just not _here_. Obviously. And I came because..." he stopped himself short from saying, _I love you_, even though it was the purest truth in his head at that moment. "I thought you might need some help,"

"Well, you shouldn't have bothered," she crossed her arms.

Sensing she was emotionally exhausted as well as physically, Derek tried not to take her words personally. "Emily..."

"Derek, don't you get it? If anything happens to us... if both of us die here... she'll have no one," her voice quaked. "You shouldn't have come."

He felt his heart break along with her voice. "Hey..." he reached out and took her left hand in his. She tried to pull away, but he wouldn't allow it. Derek looked her in the eye. "First of all, she'd have your parents, my mom and my sisters. Heck, the whole BAU team would probably jump at the chance to adopt her. I know for a fact Garcia would. But, second..." he emphasized the next words. "No one is dying on my watch. Unless you don't stop yelling at me."

She almost laughed, leaning her head against the wall again. "How pathetic are we?" Emily asked. "Trapped in this hole, our daughter facing the very real possibility of becoming an orphan and we're still fighting." She took a deep breath. "I'm not upset at you. I'm more upset with myself for letting my guard down in the first place. If I'd never looked at that damn cell phone..."

"Someone called you," Derek realized. "That's why you were still sitting there in your car? Emily, they probably did it on purpose, to make sure you were distracted," he tried to help her understand. "Did you see who the caller was?"

"It..." Emily wished she'd never opened her big mouth in the first place. "It's not important now."

Morgan's head was throbbing like crazy, but he still had most of his wits about him. It didn't take very long to piece the timeline together. "Shit... it was me, wasn't it? It was my call that night that distracted you. I'm responsible for all of this."

"Derek, no..." she closed her eyes and shook her head. "You aren't to blame for any of this either. It was just... really bad timing." Emily felt his hand slip away from hers and she opened her eyes to glance over at him. He looked really upset. "Derek, please don't..."

"I just wanted to be the perfect dad," he whispered.

"What?"

He turned his head a little to face her again. "From the moment I laid eyes on Beth and realized she was my daughter, I loved her so much and I wanted to do everything right for her. I wanted to be the perfect daddy for her. Instead, I've done and said everything wrong."

Emily blinked away a tear that threatened to fall. "That's not true at all."

"She cried the whole time you were gone on Sunday." Morgan confessed. "I didn't want to tell you it was the whole time, because I thought you might never let me see her again. But.." he sighed with a heavy heart. "She sobbed through her lunch and she eventually hiccupped herself to sleep. Then I watched her wolf down her dinner that night and I felt liked I'd starved her."

"Oh, Derek..." Emily stopped him. "You didn't starve her. And she's been going through this clingy stage lately, she even cries when I leave her with Silvia. I should have told you, but you seemed so eager to spend time with her and I really wanted that for you and for her." She felt awful again for her part in Derek's struggle to connect with his daughter. "She loves you too," Emily told him. "Monday morning she wouldn't stop talking about you. Everything was about daddy." Emily regarded his silent eyes and made one last stab at trying to cheer him up. "Derek, perfection is a myth. No one is perfect."

"Beth is perfect," he countered.

Emily smiled. "You think that because she's your daughter. I think she's perfect too, but she's only two years old. She hasn't had time to make any mistakes yet, but she will. Some day she'll come home and tell us that she failed her math quiz or a spelling test. And during those angst-filled teen years, she will no doubt think that she hates us. Given that she's our daughter, she'll probably even say it to our faces. But she won't mean it, and she'll feel horrible about it and apologize. And we'll forgive her because we're her parents and we love her."

Morgan cracked a small smile, but he still didn't seem entirely convinced of her words. "How can you be so calm about this? Don't you worry about her?

"I worry all the time, Derek. Lately it's been about her language skills. There are these two girls in a playgroup we sometimes go to. Both are really close to Beth's age and they're already making four and five word sentences. Beth barely strings two words together at a time, but the pediatrician says she's right on track and that I shouldn't worry. And my mother told me that I only ever spoke three words until I was two and half; mommy, daddy and book. Then my vocabulary took off and I was speaking both English and French by age five," she shrugged.

"So, you've stopped worrying?"

"Heck no," she sighed. "You know what? In two years worth of this parenting business, I've only really learned one thing."

He was curious. "What?"

"That parenting is about ninety-nine percent love and one percent luck," Emily was glad to see the amusement in his eyes. "You've already got love on your side, Derek. The way I see it, that means you've got ninety-nine percent of this parenting thing under control."

Derek laughed softly. "I think Reid would appreciate that parenting statistic of yours."

She sensed he was trying to change the subject before his emotions get the better of him. Emily swallowed nervously. "How is Reid?"

"He's missed you," Morgan replied. "He'd never come out and say that, but he was pretty upset about the way you left. The whole team was. But they still care about you, which is why they're here now doing their best to find you."

"I don't deserve their kindness." Emily bit down gently on her bottom lip. "I was in a pretty bad state when I left three years ago. I felt so guilty for what I made you do."

"Made me?" Derek looked her in the eye again. "Emily, you are sexy as hell and down right persuasive when you want to be, but you didn't make me do anything that night that I didn't want." The memories came flooding back. "Damn, woman, when you came to my door that night I thought I was dreaming, because I'd had that dream before," he revealed. "And you do deserve the team's kindness. Maybe we made a mistake, maybe we didn't, because I can't imagine a world without Beth in it. But whatever we did, wrong or right, it doesn't mean we're not worthy of love and friendship. And someone I admire very much told me there's a lot of forgiveness in love."

Emily finally let a tear escape. "Garcia?" she guessed.

"Garcia," he grinned, wiping her tear away.

"I've missed her," Emily breathed out. "And Reid, JJ... even Rossi and Hotch." Several more deep breaths helped settle her emotions. "Well, this has been very cathartic."

"Yeah," Derek chuckled. "And it only took us being locked together in a small room to start talking things out." He knew there were still much deeper subject matters to be talked out in the future, but for the time being he really wanted their easier conversation to keep rolling. "There's something else very important I need to tell you about when I was watching Beth on Sunday."

Emily looked a little worried. "What?"

"Well..." he rubbed the back of his neck, kneading the sore muscles there. "I searched through your kitchen cupboards and there's nothing remotely sweet to eat in your whole house. I mean, seriously. Nothing with cream filling or chocolate covered..."

"I always keep some dark chocolate in the freezer," she protested.

"Dark chocolate?" he scrunched up his nose. "Come on, Emily. How is a child supposed to grow up without some Oreo cookies or a bag of M&Ms once in a while?"

She laughed for the first time in days. It felt good, and she knew he'd done it on purpose. Even three years later, he was still the only one who really knew how to ease her troubles. Emily hadn't understood just how much she'd missed him until that very moment. "So, instead of perfect dad, now you're going for spoil-her-rotten daddy?" Emily teased. "In that case I'll be sure to send all the dentist bills to you in Virginia..." Emily groaned, realizing she'd gone just a little too far.

Derek didn't let her comment get to him, though. He knew she was trying. He was trying too. It was still just a little bit bumpy. But he also knew they couldn't waste any more time trying to traverse that rocky road at the moment. They needed to find a way out if they ever hoped to try and spoil their daughter. He stood up slowly, using the wall to brace himself. "Oh, shit..." Morgan hissed as he made it up to full height.

"What's wrong?" Emily got to her feet.

He shook his head and gritted his teeth. "It's nothing."

"Right... I forgot that in the Derek Morgan dictionary, 'oh shit' means nothing." She could plainly see him favoring his left shoulder. "Would you let me look at it?" Emily noticed a nod and took that as her cue to push his black t-shirt to one side. "Derek, its about fifty different colors. I think something might be broken. What happened?"

"I was hit by something... hard." He flinched as she let the shirt snap back into place. "And then there was this pipe that eventually knocked me out," he needlessly pointed to the gash across his forehead. Morgan pushed away from the wall and gave his legs a try. His whole body was stiff, but after a few minutes of stretching his legs he was getting around fine. Derek quickly scanned the room and turned to her. "I have a plan, we're going to need to work together on it."

Emily nodded. "Working together was never our problem," she replied. "So, what's your plan?"

He pointed to the wall behind her. "You're going to crawl through that vent duct up there."

"Oh, really?" She looked at him like he was crazy, even though he remained dead serious. "Shall I wait for a radio-active spider to come along and bite me so I can use my super-grip power to climb the wall? Derek, it's at least twenty feet up there."

"I'd say closer to twelve," he fired back, though he couldn't help be amused that she knew how Spiderman had gained his super powers. "If you stand on my shoulders you should be able to reach it just fine."

Her mouth gaped open. "Stand on your, very likely, broken shoulder?

He lifted his left arm and raised it above his head, grimacing the whole time. "I've broken my collar bone before and I couldn't do that," Derek slowly lowered the limb. "I don't think anything is broken. I imagine it was just a nerve cluster that got hit, which is why it hurts so bad. It'll be fine," Morgan was confident. "And you can stand more on the right side." He watched her silently staring at him, a massive frown marring her otherwise beautiful face. "The other option is we let our daughter become an orphan."

Emily had almost forgotten how well he knew how to push her buttons. She walked toward the area below the vent as he positioned himself in front of her, his back against the wall for extra support. "So, I'm just supposed to leave you here alone?" Emily asked, resting one hand on his right shoulder in preparation to climb up.

"I'm a big boy," he assured her.

She was less than convinced as her feelings for him came creeping back to the surface. "I'm sorry I was upset with you about being here and... for..." she sighed, feeling his warm breath so close to her face. Emily didn't think as she leaned forward, closing the tiny gap between them. She initiated the kiss, but he deepened it. Their lips tingled and hearts raced as both of them searched for the spark that had lit between them three years ago. It was still there; not hard to find. But it had to be left to smolder again as Emily finally broke away. "We can just pretend that was..."

"An afraid-we-both-might-die kiss?" he supplied. Derek nodded, knowing it was just one more thing to add to the list of topics they'd need to talk about later. "Here," he laced his hands together and boosted her up. Her weight instantly dug into his right shoulder as she stood, but he steeled himself against the pain. "Can you reach?"

"Barely," Emily tugged one bottom corner of the vent screen and was pleased when it came off easily. She carefully handed it down to him while trying to remain steady upon his shoulders. "I..." she stood on the tiptoes of her bare feet. "My fingers are only brushing the bottom edge. I can't get high enough to pull myself up."

Morgan took just a second to think before offing a new suggestion. "Stand on my head."

"Derek, no," she protested, already thinking she might cripple him for life by being on his shoulders.

"We have no other options," he returned in a forceful tone. "And once you're in the vent, don't talk to me down here. Things could echo really loudly in there. Just get out and find help. Now, are you ready?"

She took one last deep breath. "Okay, on three..." Emily and Derek counted off together.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 11

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Emily crawled through the musty venting system with as much speed as possible, and tried hard not to think about Derek being left behind. She tried not to imagine him with a broken neck after the way she'd used his head as a stepping-stone to enter the vent. Most of all she tried not to think about their impromptu kiss. True to their agreement, once inside the narrow vent-shaft, she hadn't looked back. She probably couldn't have if she'd tried, considering there wasn't much room for maneuvering in the air duct. Emily had learned that the hard way, having to back her way out of a few dead-end turns already. There was also very little light to guide her through the dusty maze and her body had already been sore enough before having to move around on hands and knees.

She made a hasty left turn and quickly realized it was another dead-end. Emily swore inside her head as she heeded Derek's warning, knowing that even the smallest sound might give her away. After a better right turn and several more yards of crawling, Emily paused when she heard voices from somewhere below. She glanced around and found a large vent-screen a few feet forward on her left. As she peered through the slats, Emily could make out three figures. She instantly identifying the two young men she'd seen before; one blonde, one with darker hair. There was also a golden-haired female, who she figured to be Teresa Meyer. Even through the slats and from a distance Emily could see the resemblance to her father, Charles.

The fair-haired boy seemed upset, pacing back and forth. "I can't believe you left my brother there to die, Teresa. I'd expect that much from Simon, not you," he glared at the other man before eyeing Teresa again. "I need to go check on Daniel."

Emily watched Teresa lower her head. She looked ashamed. But it was the other boy who spoke up, the one Emily guessed was named Simon. "Kyle, we can't let you walk out of here, you know too much. You could go to the police. Teresa will pay you more. She can get you as much money as you need to finish school, your brother too."

"No. I don't want money," Kyle remained focused on Teresa. "I'm sorry I ever agreed to all this in the first place. I told you Simon would get carried away, didn't I? He doesn't care about you, Teresa. He's using you. I won't tell anyone, I swear. I won't go to the police. Please, just let me go check on my brother and I'll be back."

Simon approached Kyle with a weapon in his left hand. Emily had never seen them with a gun before. And the weapon looked vaguely familiar. She suddenly had a feeling Derek hadn't told her everything about his attack. If they had his gun then it was most definitely loaded. "I think Kyle has become expendable."

Teresa looked distressed. And her voice didn't hold the kind of power it had with its mechanical disguise. Emily could tell she was trying to keep calm, but not doing a very good job of it. "I can't let you hurt him, Simon." She stepped in between Kyle and the weapon. "No one was supposed to get hurt. I just wanted Lauren and Emily to know how much their meddling hurt me, but... Kyle is right. Not at this cost."

"But Emily Stewart guessed who you are, and she's seen our faces enough to identify us," Simon protested.

"Which means we should turn ourselves in," Kyle suggested. "Maybe they'll be lenient like she said. More so than if we kill two more people; one of them an FBI agent."

"No," Simon maintained.

"I don't know," Teresa shook her head as she walked away from them. "I don't know what to do."

Emily quietly removed herself from the screen. Teresa's hold on reality seemed tenuous, which meant she was liable to do anything. Although, Emily got the feeling that Simon was more of the mastermind behind everything going on. Whatever the story was, she still needed to get help. Emily turned right again and followed the duct several more feet before she finally spotted the top of an access ladder. She scrambled forward and hung her head over the ladder to look around. The area below was a stairwell, lit by more tube lights and a flickering green exit sign. Emily carefully managed to turn around and descended the ladder feet first. She rushed to the exit door, but paused with her fingers around the handle. She was afraid it might shut and lock her out, preventing her from returning for Derek.

A quick look around the stairwell revealed nothing she could use to prop the door. Emily decided to climb the stairs and was pleased to find that they lead to a large loft area, which housed a bunch of old pieces of wood. She grabbed the smallest block she could and rushed back down the stairs. Emily did her best to open the door as quietly as possible, and was thankful that it didn't squeak. She stepped outside and was instantly assaulted by a driving rain that pelted her. The weather was of little importance, though, as she propped the door and made sure it would stay open. Satisfied with that small accomplishment, Emily quickly surveyed the area. The sun had already risen, but dark clouds hung low, casting a dreary light on her surroundings.

She and Derek's plan hadn't been very detailed; get out and get help. Now she found herself standing outside a large building in the pouring rain, with a line of thick trees to her right and what looked like a lake in the distance to her left. Straight ahead she could see there were several more similar buildings all in a row, but there didn't appear to be anyone in sight. Emily remembered the building's abandoned quality and realized there might not be anyone around for miles. She set off along the paved road, her feet bare and cold as she ran, hoping for some sign of civilization. Taking one's shoes was fairly typical if you didn't want a person to run. What her abductors failed to consider was that she'd been chasing after a toddler for over a year, under just about every condition imaginable.

Finally, she heard a noise over the rain. "A vehicle," Emily whispered to herself, picking up the pace. She passed another building and looked left. There, between two of the structures, was a vehicle. The red, crew-cab truck was driving away from her and Emily ran as fast as she could to catch up. Luckily the driver wasn't going terrible fast, probably due to the weather. Within a minute she was running right along side the truck. Then she passed it up and placed herself directly in front of it, waving her arms and yelling to get the driver's attention. Emily had to jump out of the way as the truck skidded, having tried to stop too short a distance in the rain. She stood by the driver's side and read the wet sign on the door. It was for a construction company.

The window lowered and a middle-aged man with a dark beard stared out at her. "Are you completely crazy, lady? I can barely see in this rain. I could have run you over."

"Do you have a cell phone?" Emily asked, cutting to the chase.

"What?" He regarded her appearance for a second. "Are you in some kind of trouble, lady? Who beat you? Should I call 911?"

"No," Emily knew that a vast majority of police officers were more apt to shoot first and ask questions later. She really needed the BAU. They were better equipped to deal with someone like Teresa and her friends, to talk them down if possible. And even as upset as Emily was about being taken and held by the girl, she knew Teresa needed help. She'd rather the girl get that help then end up six feet under. "I just need to use your phone to contact someone. Please?"

The man grabbed his cell. "Sure, here," he open the door, motioning her forward so she could partially get out of the rain. Then he handed her the phone.

Emily huddled toward the warmth she felt radiating out of the truck's cab and quickly dialed a number. "Come on," she held the phone to her ear as her whole body shivered. "Please tell me you haven't changed your phone number in three years."

xxx

Reid arranged the pictures chronologically from oldest to most recent. Several minutes later he placed them in reverse order and studied them again. He was trying to decipher some sort of pattern within the images. Nothing was working, though. But he still felt certain the pictures were trying to tell him something. He was upset that he'd fallen asleep for several hours during the night, and more upset that no one had woken him until just a half hour ago. Reid had to admit he did feel refreshed. But it was already eight in the morning, which meant Derek had been missing for over twelve hours; Emily for more than two days. They were running out of time. He continued to stare at the pictures even as he listened to the conversation behind him.

"After what happened here last night, I kind of doubt Teresa would be stupid enough to show up for her classes today. But on the off chance she does, I've got a team on campus," Casey reported.

"Good," Hotch nodded. "Garcia still hasn't been able to locate Kyle Collins and we've got nothing on any Steve or Scott that might be helping Teresa. Either Daniel didn't remember the name right, or he was lying to us. I'm more inclined to think the former. And the two locations Teresa's family finally suggested turned up nothing."

Spencer could almost feel their eyes boring a hole though his back, willing him to find the break they needed to locate Emily and Derek. He put the framed items back into the original arrangement, just as they'd been on Teresa's bedroom wall. After hours spent trying to find a pattern, Reid focused on the middle picture. It almost seemed too obvious, but maybe sleep really had helped to focus his mind better. The center photo showed Teresa at age four or five, she was smiling and sitting on her father's lap. But Reid finally looked past their faces and noticed that they were sitting on a dock beside some large body of water. Spencer plucked it from the group and turned it over. He tore open the back of the frame and, instead of the one photograph falling out, two did.

"Uh... guys," Reid caught everyone's attention as he picked up both photographs. "I think I might actually have something here." It wasn't Teresa or her father in the second picture, but another little girl and her daddy. "It's Derek and Beth," Reid held the item up, showing it to his team members and Casey. "And it looks like they're at a lake, same as the picture of Teresa and her father."

Casey examined both images. "I'm pretty sure that's Pioneer Park on Lake Washington," he pointed out. "I take my boys fishing there. It's not all that far from here."

JJ looked over Reid's shoulder at the picture. "Lauren Kupfer's body was found on the shore of Lake Washington."

"Yes it was, further north," Rossi remembered.

"Are there any kind of industrial areas around the lake?" Hotch asked Casey.

"Sure," the agent answered, getting a feel for where he was headed. "But wouldn't a residence be easier for them to access?"

"Maybe," it was Dave who replied. "But not easier to hide someone, a person who might be shouting or screaming for their life. An old warehouse, manufacturing plant... those would be good hiding places."

Hotch already had his phone out and connected to the one person who could most quickly find such a place. "Garcia," he greeted the woman. "I need you to search for industrial parks, manufacturing companies, any type of warehouse facilities along the shore of Lake Washington, or even very nearby. A place that could be used by our UnSub to hide out."

"_Bad guy hidey-holes, I'm on it..._" she quickly typed in the parameters of her search. "_I've got five possibilities. Three are newer, built within the last fifteen years._"

"Try the other two first," Hotch suggested.

"_There's a plastics manufacturing facility toward the north, been there for over forty years, still in business. And I've got a lumber mill also to the north, about twenty-five miles from where you are now. There's a notice of sale on the property..._"

"Are you talking about the old Switzer Mill?" Casey asked.

"_That's the one,_" Penelope confirmed.

"I know where that is," the agent informed Hotch. "It's a huge facility, multiple buildings. Aside from mill work they did custom cabinetry, mass produced wooden furniture and one-of-a-kind designs. But its been vacant for nearly five years."

"_I found the bill of sale,"_ Garcia interrupted. _"The land and buildings were purchased earlier this year, and there was a zoning change granted. They're due to gut and remodel the buildings, turn them into mini-storage units,"_ she read the use proposal document._ "It looks like work is officially due to start on the project next week._"

The Unit Chief thought it was likely Teresa had found at least one unoccupied building there to use. He ended the call as the team silently and efficiently funneled out of the house and into their SUV. Hotch drove, with Rossi in the front passenger seat; JJ and Reid in the back. Casey took point in his own vehicle, punching through the rainy morning commute with his siren. They were about half way there when Hotch's phone rang. He glanced at the screen, keeping one eye on the road. "Anyone contact a Richard Houghton about this case?" he asked, not recognizing the name. All heads shook a negative response, but he answered anyway. "Hotchner."

"_Hotch, thank God..._"

"Emily?" He couldn't quite believe what he was hearing and switched to speaker mode so the others could listen. "Emily, where are you? Where's Derek?"

Her voice sounded a bit distance for a moment as she asked, "_Where are we?_" Hotch heard a man's voice in the background. She came back louder. "_The place used to be something called Switzer Mill._"

"We know where you are, we're already on our way," Hotch assured her. "We're about fifteen minutes out."

"_Good,_" she replied. "_Derek helped me get away, but he's still trapped in one of these buildings. There's a construction foreman here, Richard. He'll be parked at the end of a large green metal building. I'm going to leave him here so you can count how many buildings down I'll be. There are eight, the eighth being the one Derek's still trapped in. It's a brown metal structure with white gutters and trim._"

"Emily, you need to stay where you are with this Richard guy," Hotch directed.

"_I can't just leave Derek in there by himself,_" she countered. "_This was all about taking me, and if they realize I'm gone I'm afraid that Simon kid might kill Derek. But I'm not going to let that happen. Here..._"

Hotch shouted into the phone. "Emily!" The was nothing but silence for a moment. "Emily!" he tried again.

"_Um, hello,_" a male voice finally replied through the line. "_That woman, Emily? She just took off, running in her bare feet out here in this rain. Not to mention she looks like hell with those bruises down the side of her face. Should I go after her?_"

"Damn it," Hotch groaned as he followed Casey along the freeway's shoulder for a short distance, trying to skirt a backup of vehicles. They drove as fast as possible while being careful on the slippery road. "No," he finally replied, hoping to deter the man. They really didn't need anyone else caught up in the mess, especially not an innocent bystander. "Please, sir, just stay where you are. We'll be there soon."

xxx

Emily wiped raindrops from her face as she jogged back, counting the buildings off in her head to be sure she got the right one. When she reached it, Emily turned and made her way toward the corner access point. Thankfully she found her block of wood right where she'd left it, still propping the door open. She breathed a little easier knowing Hotch and the others were already on their way. All she had to do was try to keep Teresa and her thugs away from Derek until the team arrived. She had a feeling Teresa and Kyle could be talked down, but she wasn't so sure about Simon. He looked and sounded like trouble. She grasped the door handle and was just about to kick the block of wood away when she felt a hand clamp down over her mouth.

"I don't want to hurt you," a male voice whispered in her ear. "My name's Kyle. I'm going to let go now, but you shouldn't..."

She didn't wait to hear any more of what he had to say. Instead, her left elbow connected with his stomach and her foot came up to kick him in the groin. Then she spun around and punched him in the nose. Emily watched the boy stumble backwards onto his butt. "I suggest you stay down," she spat. The fingers of her right hand tingled, but were still balled into a tight fist, almost daring him to come after her again.

The young man groaned. "I guess I had that coming."

"You deserve a lot worse," Emily growled. "But I'm kind of in a hurry." She reached for the door again.

"Wait," Kyle got to his feet, but stood hunched over and held one hand beneath his bloody nose. "I can help you, if you'll let me."

Emily sighed, but didn't turn around. "I don't think that's going to work since I know you've been helping Teresa."

"Exactly," he replied. "That's why I got caught up in this mess in the first place. I wanted to help her, because I think Simon is trying to make her do things that she really doesn't want to do. She's pissed about her father and the affair, but she'd never do this all on her own. Simon befriended her in our Civil Procedures class and started ear-wigging her into thinking that revenge was the way to go. And Teresa is far too trusting. I tried to dissuade her, though. When that didn't work, I stayed close to keep her out of trouble. I even tried to get my brother in on this, so he could help me take down Simon. Now my brother's been shot and could be dead. And I'm sorry for what I did to you, but I do want to help," he concluded.

She turned around and glared at him, still digesting his convoluted story. But Emily recalled that he hadn't been as ruthless in his attacks against her as Simon. She'd also already suspected Simon was more than a mindless hooligan. "So, you really did all this to help her?" Emily asked, hoping she wasn't going to regret her curiosity.

"Yes, because Teresa is my friend, one of the few I've ever had. And I also did it for the money, at first. Ever since our parents died I've been trying to carve out a better life for myself and my brother," he replied, dropping the hand that had been against his nose. The blood flow had already stopped. "I was hoping to look out for Teresa, but I did need the money."

"I see, so murder along the way... that's how you climb your way out of a bad situation?" Emily shook her head. "You know what, I don't have time for this." She reached for the door again.

Kyle moved to block her. "You came back for the FBI agent, didn't you? To help him? Even though you should have gotten away while you had the chance."

Emily grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt. He was a good couple of inches taller than her, but she got in his face nonetheless. "That FBI agent is the father of my child and also the man I..." Emily couldn't say what she really wanted to, even without Derek around. She honestly didn't believe she had any right to still love the man she'd hurt so badly. "You're the one who should get away while you can. There's a whole team of FBI agents on their way here right now." Emily let go, pushing him away.

"Good," Kyle replied, not backing down. "Maybe they can tell me how my brother is. That agent friend of yours shot him, not that I can blame him for that. Danny probably did something stupid, but..." he trailed off. "I tried to get Danny to help against Simon, like I said before. But I also wanted him in so Teresa could pay him too. I figured as long as Danny had the money, mine and his, maybe he could survive. And then I could take the full blame for whatever happened. That way at least one of us would get a shot at a decent life."

Emily sighed, pissed off at herself for letting the kid's story start to get to her. "Kyle, you..."

"You probably escaped through the air vent," the young man guessed, persistent to a fault. "But I can lead you back to your friend an easier way. We won't even run into Simon and Teresa. I swear I want to help."

"None of this is going to change the fact that you killed an innocent woman," Emily tried to take an even harder line with him.

Kyle shook his head. "If you mean Lauren Kupfer, I didn't kill her. Neither did Teresa. The two of us got her away from Simon and left her at a park on the other side of the lake from here. When we saw the article about her death, we knew Simon must have done something to her."

"And I'm just supposed to believe you?" Emily scoffed.

"Believe that my brother could be dead right now, or dying. Believe that I have a vehicle parked behind this building and I could be long gone by now, but I'm willing to stay and help you because I _believe_ it's the right thing to do. I just want this all to be over. And then I want to make sure my brother is okay."

In the back of her mind Emily feared he might be setting a trap for her, but her gut was telling her that Kyle didn't want to hurt anyone. Emily followed her gut. "Walk in front of me," she directed.

He did as instructed, guiding her into the building. They walked silently through dimly lit corridors and the kid was good as his word. They reached Derek's door in about a third of the time it had taken her to get away through the air vents. Kyle pulled a knife and Emily instantly removed it from his hands. He looked over at her. "I just need to pick the lock," Kyle calmly relayed.

Emily had gained a lot of skills over the years working in law enforcement, but lock picking was not one of them. She handed the knife back, but watched him like a hawk and shoved him inside the room as soon as the door was breached. Emily didn't close the door, though, fearing it would lock them inside again. She set her eyes on finding Derek, but the room wasn't very big and he was nowhere to be seen. "No," she lamented, running her hands through the wet hair that had matted against her scalp. Tears mingled with the water drops running down her cheeks. Emily turned to Kyle. "Where is he?"

He shrugged. "I swear, I don't know."

She closed the gap between them and went for his knife again. Kyle let go of it willingly, holding his hands up in a show of surrender. But Emily wasn't in the mood to be as nice. She held the weapon against his neck. "If this is all some trick, I swear I will make you regret it."

"It's not a trick," Kyle gulped. "Maybe... maybe they took him to the courtroom area Simon set up for Teresa. Where we were holding you before," he suggested.

With the tip of the knife, Emily pointed toward the door, directing Kyle to take the lead again. They marched out of the room and down another long hallway with doors on either side. When they finally emerged into the open area, Emily ducked behind one of the pieces of rusty machinery that she remembered seeing before. The broken windows above were letting rain in, which formed small puddles on the concrete floor. She located Derek, who was duct tapped to the same chair she'd spent the last few days in. Simon and Teresa were standing just a few feet in front of him; Teresa with the gun in her hands, Simon beside her whispering something in her ear.

"I can't do it," Teresa replied.

Emily slipped the knife up the wet sleeve of her blouse and held it there with the curled fingers of her right hand. She shot Kyle a warning look, silently telling him to stay hidden. Then she strode out into the middle of the space, making her presence known. "What can't you do?" Emily addressed Teresa, sensing that Kyle had been right about everything. Simon certainly seemed to be using the young woman's fragile emotions to fulfill some twisted agenda of his own.

"Kill," the girl replied.

"He wants you to do his dirty work for him." Emily continued forward. She noticed that Derek's head was bleeding again and he didn't seem terribly happy to see her. Emily took a chance and knelt down in front of Morgan, hoping that Simon would stick close to Teresa and keep trying to pull her puppet strings. "The team is close," she whispered for Morgan's ears only.

"Then what are you doing back here?" Derek questioned.

She carefully removed the knife from her sleeve and stealthily began to saw the tape holding his left ankle in place. It was the only location she didn't think Simon could see from where he was standing. "So, you can risk your life for me?" Emily challenged. "But I can't do the same for you? That's a nasty little double standard you've got going there." She smiled, despite the dire situation.

Derek wanted to both hit and kiss her in that instant. "Emily..."

"Both of you shut up!" Simon shouted. "And get away from him!"

His booted foot connected with Emily's hip, sending her to the ground on her stomach. The force of the hit caused her to drop the knife and it skittered across the floor, just out of reach. Simon caught her by the hair and bashed her head against the concrete, reopening the cut along the side of her face. Then he flipped her over and pinned her arms with his legs as he removed the roll of duct tape that he'd been wearing on his wrist. He quickly bound her wrists and ankles before Emily could even focus. Derek kicked out with his freed leg and scooted the chair across the floor toward Emily. Simon easily knocked the chair over, Morgan and all. Then he picked up the knife and moved toward Teresa, positioning himself behind the young woman. He held the knife against her throat.

"Shoot him," Simon pointed down at Derek.

"I can't," Teresa maintained. She looked Morgan in the eye. "I couldn't shoot you last night, either. I heard you apologized to Emily and Beth. I know you love them. I could see that at the park on Sunday when I took your picture; the way you played with your daughter, and how you looked at Emily. I was upset at her for telling my mother about my father's affair. But my father never did what you did, he never apologized for his failure. I swear I didn't want anyone to die. I just wanted them to know that someone cared about my family. Even if my father didn't."

"I believe you, Teresa."

Emily turned her aching head toward the familiar voice. "Reid," she whispered, wanting to jump up and hug the man when she spotted him standing across the room. She glanced around to see the rest of the team and another agent she didn't recognize. Emily brought her hands up and used her teeth to catch a corner of the tape. She ripped it off, realizing Simon was an idiot for not lashing them behind her back. She further noted her surrounds, seeing that Derek was lying on his side just a few feet away. Emily listened to Reid as she attempted to unbind her feet without drawing attention to herself.

Spencer wore a bullet-proof vest like the others, but he didn't draw his weapon. After spending hours studying her things, Reid had concluded that Teresa wasn't violent, nor did she want revenge as Derek had originally thought. "There's a huge difference between wishing someone harm and actually hurting them. I don't believe you're a killer, Teresa," he insisted. "You're angry at your father, but none of this is going to change what he did to your family. If you drop the gun now, we can help you."

Teresa stared at Reid for a long moment. She was just about to lower the weapon when Simon wrapped his free hand around the gun. His actions further trapped Teresa against his chest as a shield. "I told you I'd hurt your family if you didn't help me, Teresa. I plan to keep that promise once I'm done here," he leveled the weapon on Derek again and squeezed the trigger.

Having freed herself completely, Emily dove toward Derek as the gun went off.

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 12

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Everything became a bit hazy as Emily rushed toward Derek. Sights, sounds, colors... they were all muted by her determination. She didn't give her actions a second thought. As she collided with the chair, feeling one of the wooden arms dig into her side, Emily could see a flash of something in her peripheral vision. There was a blur of color that almost seemed to move in time with the resounding thud of gunfire that echoed through the room. It was all over in the blink of an eye. And then she laid there for a moment, trying to determine if she was still alive. Slowly, she turned her head toward Derek. His dark eyes were open wide, staring at her with a look that was caught halfway between a disappointed frown and a relieved grin. But the part that might have been a smile was gone before she could be sure it had ever existed.

"You okay?" Derek asked, serious facade fully in control.

She nodded. "I think so."

As Emily sat up, the world came rushing back with frightening speed and her heart threatened to pound out of her chest, adrenaline still pumping furiously. She took several deep breaths to try and calm down. The room was awash in a disharmony of activity and voices. She turned to see Simon against the ground on his stomach. Hotch had his weapon pointed at the young man's head while Rossi cuffed the boy's hands behind his back. A few feet to the left of them, Teresa was being cuffed as well. Emily could see the stunned look on her face, and a tear rolled down the girl's cheek. She followed Teresa's gaze to the floor and finally spotted the blur of color she hadn't been able to identify earlier. Kyle was sprawled on his back, blood draining from the gunshot wound in his right thigh.

Noticing that Reid had swooped in to help Morgan, she crawled toward Kyle. Emily placed her hands against his leg, using pressure to try and slow the flow of blood. She sensed someone kneeling beside her and turned to find JJ there. It was not the most suitable time for a reunion, though. "Is there a medic with you guys?" Emily asked her.

"I called EMS in after we knew for sure where you were," JJ let her know. "They should probably be here s..." the media liaison couldn't even get the words out before they heard a wail of sirens in the distance.

Emily looked down at Kyle. "That was a really stupid thing to do," she gently chastised. "What were you thinking?"

"That I..." he sucked in a breath. "I didn't want Teresa to feel responsible for killing anyone. I tried to stop Simon, but I guess my leg did most of the stopping." Another shaky breath escaped his lips as he looked her in the eye. "And I told you I wanted to help."

"Yes you did," Emily exhaled. "Thank you."

The kid glanced between Emily and JJ. "Do you know if my brother's okay? Did he make it?"

"You mean Daniel?" JJ asked, guessing that it was Kyle she was talking to. He and his brother looked a lot alike. "He's fine, it was just a shoulder wound. They took him to the hospital last night, but he's already been released."

"Is he in jail?" the young man asked.

"No," JJ answered, seeing the worry etched across his brow. "He's being charged with assault, but Hotch spoke with the police and I don't think there'll be any jail time served. My best guess is that he'll be performing a lot of community service as soon as his shoulder heals."

Kyle seemed somewhat relieved as he caught Emily's attention again. "Will you tell him I'm sorry about getting him involved in this. And tell him that I love him..."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Emily shook her head. "You're just in shock right now," she let him know. There was a lot of blood, and she couldn't be sure of his condition, but she told him what he needed to hear at that moment. "You'll be fine, and you can tell him all of that yourself while you convalesce together." Emily did her best to reassure the boy, even though she figured he _would_ be doing some time in jail after all he'd done.

"You stupid bitch!" Simon's voice rang out over the canopy of activity, startling Emily. "You ruined everything! Everything!"

"Shut up!" Rossi shot back as he yanked on the boy's cuffs.

Emily wasn't sure if Simon had been talking about her or Teresa, but figured it was both of them he was mad at. She watched as Hotch and Rossi got the kid in line and marched him away from the scene. Casey started to move Teresa toward the exit too, but the young woman stopped to glance over at Morgan who had gotten to his feet, having been cut lose from the chair by Reid. "Don't hurt her..." the girl looked him in the eye. "Your daughter," she explained as further tears were spilled. "She's perfect and innocent. Please, don't ever hurt her."

Derek felt his stomach coil in a sympathetic knot. "I won't," his quiet promise was given. He cautiously pressed two fingers against the open gash on the side of his head, not sure what else he could possibly do or say to ease the pain of her fractured family. Morgan watched as Casey finally took her away and then he shifted his focus to Emily who was still helping the boy on the ground.

The ambulance sirens grew to a crescendo and minutes later a team of two technicians came jogging toward them. JJ got to her feet and cleared out of their way. As soon as Emily was shooed away, by the tech who took over her tourniquet efforts, JJ gave her a hand up. With things mostly under control, the younger woman leaned in and hugged her old friend. "It's good to see you again," JJ whispered.

"It's good to see you too," Emily replied, relieved to have been greeted in such an affectionate way after being absent from the team's lives for three years without word. Her side of the hug was not as genuine as she would have liked, though, given the fact she was trying not to coat JJ with Kyle's blood, which still coated her hands. She stepped back and wiped them the best she could on her damp pants. As everything finally started to slow down, Emily felt a cold shiver rack her body.

"You look frozen, here," JJ removed her FBI-issue windbreaker and wrapped it around Emily's shoulders. "It's not much, but...."

"Thank you, JJ," Emily was grateful for even the smallest warmth. She looked over and caught Derek and Reid watching them. Morgan still looked like he was trapped in a battle over whether to be angry at her or glad she was alive. Spencer just looked hurt as he stepped away and crossed the room. Emily followed him over to the table where Teresa had performed her judging duties. Behind the screen they both noticed a stack of papers, but she halted his efforts to inspect them, not willing to let things fester any longer. "Reid," Emily caught his arm and he turned toward her. "I'm so sorry for the way I left things, not saying goodbye. I really regret that. And if you can't forgive me, I'll understand, but I just wanted you to know I was sorry."

He pressed his lips together and struggled to find words. In the end there was only one thing he really wanted her to know. "I missed you."

She grinned, even as a tear rolled down her cheek. Emily didn't think anyone was more surprised by that response than he seemed to be. It certainly deserved a hug, and she gave him one, feeling the warmth of his awkward stance. "I missed you too," she let him know.

Reid slowly backed out of the embrace, his face flushed. He stared down at the table for a moment, collecting his thoughts, but curiosity piqued when he spotted some words on a page. He reached down and picked up a few of the papers. After just seconds spent reading, he looked up at Emily again. Derek and JJ had come to join them as well. "Look at this, it kind of reads like some sort of script," Spencer noticed. "Teresa's name is highlighted and there are multiple response options."

Emily read some of them aloud. "_You're not to speak unless spoken to. Who I am is not important. If you're found guilty of hurting my family as a result of your actions, then you'll have to die too._" She looked over at Reid again. "Teresa said all of those things to me."

"So, she wrote it out to practice?" JJ asked.

Spencer shook his head. "I don't think so. The handwriting is blocky and messy. I'd say its Simon's. He was probably directing everything she did or said. Look at this," he flipped through the pages. "These seem to be a series of notes written back and forth between them. Listen to this one." Reid read the note: "_My step-mother was just like these women who hurt you. She destroyed lives, mine and my fathers. She tore my family apart with her abuse. I finally had to take a stand against her, just the way you need to. No one is going to do it for you._"

"That's the blocky lettering," Derek noted, looking over the younger man's shoulder.

"And this writing..." Reid pointed to a different note. "Is curlier and much neater. It's like the writing in some of the notebooks I found in Teresa's bedroom," he pointed out as he read one of her responses. "_I'm not sure about all of this; your plan. I want them to know they hurt my family and that someone cares, but... I don't want anyone to be hurt. Maybe this is all a bad idea._"

Morgan sighed. He couldn't help feeling sorry for the girl all over again. "He certainly did a good job of commanding her. But even so, she had a choice. And, unfortunately, Teresa is still going to be facing some serious charges for her part in all of this."

"Well, maybe her parents can provide her with a better defense than they did parental guidance," JJ shrugged.

Reid sat the papers down on the table. "You can't blame everything on bad parenting."

JJ turned toward him. "But you certainly fed the blame she'd placed on her father. Why didn't you tell her about her mother's affair?" she asked the doctor.

"Because I thought she'd suffered enough." Spencer wore a mask of understanding. "I guess I figured she might need one person in her life to trust, to believe in. In this case, her mother. And also because..." he tried not to let his eyes fall upon Derek and Emily, even though he knew his words were partially for them. "I don't really think children need to know about every mistake their parents make."

Emily swallowed, feeling the weight of his words crash into her. She was glad to see Hotch and Rossi as they approached the group, providing a much needed distraction from where Reid's heavy words had left them. Dave greeted her first, a friendly and forgiving smile plastered to his lips. "Good to see you alive."

"It's good to be seen alive," she quipped.

Hotch caught her eye, almost looking as awkward as Reid had earlier. "Sorry about before, when I told you not to come back here for Morgan. I guess I forgot that I don't have the right to order you around any more. Some habits seem to die hard."

She smiled. "Yeah, well... thanks for caring enough to try."

"Speaking of which..." Derek didn't normally like to air his dirty laundry in front of the group. But his irritation finally won out as he faced Emily. "I heard what you told that kid, about what he did being really stupid."

"Right..." Emily nodded, bracing for the storm she sensed was brewing. "And now you're going to throw that back at me?" She watched him shrug and his eyes shift back and forth between calm and furious. Emily decided to counter any attack before it could even start. "I guess I figured two years without her daddy was better than a lifetime," she concluded.

Silence reigned for an agonizing minute as Derek's momentary anger dissipated all together. Neither seemed to know what else to say.

"So..." Rossi finally felt the need to lighten the moment for everyone. "Emily, there's uh... something I've been curious about. Was that personal trainer that Cynthia Hawkins was fooling around with really named Hercules?"

As ridiculous as his question was, she welcomed it. "Hercules Adonis Smith," Emily held one hand up, as if she were about to swear an oath on the bible and testify on the matter. "Seriously. That is the name on his legal driver's license."

The group erupted in a chorus of laughter that helped to dissolve the tension of the last few days, even Morgan seemed a little more relaxed. "With all the, who's cheating on who business, this whole case has been like a bad episode of Melrose Place," Rossi shook his head.

"There were good episodes of that show?" JJ countered.

Hotch arched a brow. "I'm just surprised that Dave even knows that show existed."

"Contrary to popular belief, I haven't been living under a rock for the last twenty-five years." Rossi protested the good-natured dig. He glanced around at all their doubtful faces. "Okay," he shrugged in resignation. "One of my wives liked to watch that crap. And she was all about the drama, let me tell you. That's the main reason why she became the third Ex Mrs. David Rossi."

Their laughter died off into eye-rolls and groans. And Hotch returned to protective mode in a flash as he regarded Morgan and Emily. "We should get you both to the hospital, have you checked out. And no protesting," he warned, looking mainly at Emily. "Even if I don't have the right to order you around any longer. You both look like hell."

"Yeah," Dave agreed. "I've heard of couples who get matching rings or outfits, even identical tattoos, but never matching head wounds."

Emily felt a little uncomfortable at Dave's reference to them being a couple of any sort. And despite Hotch's warning, she couldn't help protest, because the only place she really wanted to be at the moment was with her daughter. "Honestly, it's not as bad as it looks," Emily said, even as she ran a hand over the bleeding wound on her forehead. "I have a really hard head."

"We know," the others replied in unison.

xxx

Regardless of her protests, Emily and Derek had been taken to the hospital to get patched up. Amazingly enough Derek's shoulder wasn't broken. There'd actually been no broken bones between them, mostly a lot of bruises and some nasty cuts. Both of their foreheads had taken several stitches and were bandaged, but they'd been cleared of any cranial trauma or concussion diagnosis. Even the doctor had to agree they both had pretty tough heads. Rest was prescribed along with some mild pain killers. And, after several hours at the hospital, they'd joined the team at the FBI field office to make official reports on the incident. All of which ate up another few hours of their day, hours that kept pushing Emily's reunion with her daughter further away.

It was late afternoon when JJ and Reid finally drove them back to Emily's house. Emily promptly took a long, hot shower to wash away the last few days of grime and turmoil. Derek was left with a shorter, lukewarm bathing experience. But he was happy to have his bag there with fresh clothes to slip on. Once cleaned up and shaved, JJ let him know that Emily hadn't come out of the bedroom since her shower. Thinking maybe she'd fallen asleep, he was a little reluctant to knock. But worry for her managed to get the better of him, despite the doctor's all-clear. He knocked softly and then pushed the door open. Morgan found her seated on the edge of the bed, dressed in black yoga pants and a green t-shirt. Her eyes seemed to be glued to the floor as he moved further into the room.

"Emily? You okay in here?" When she sat up straighter, he could easily see the red splotches on her face and the blood-shot eyes. Morgan then spotted the framed picture in her hands and realized the source of her tears. He sat beside her and grinned as he looked at the image of his daughter caught in the midst of a belly laugh. "Now who's having separation anxiety?" he asked.

"That would be me, I fully admit it," Emily replied, swiping tears away.

"You've never been away from her this long before?"

Her head shook and she sniffed rather loudly. "Never for more than a few hours."

"Well, you talked to your mom earlier, so you know Beth is fine," he nudged her shoulder with his.

She cleared her throat and sniffed again, trying to ward off the remnants of her crying spell. "I just want to hold her. Then I'll know for sure that she's okay. And then _I'll_ finally be okay again."

Derek's comforting nudge turned into a full fledged shoulder to lean on as she laid her head against him. His arm draped across her shoulders, fingers gently caressing the bare skin beneath the short sleeve of her shirt. Emily closed her eyes and inhaled his soapy cleanness. She was transported back to the night they'd made love. The one and only time they'd been together, which was more than she could have ever hoped for, and not nearly enough either. Her head turned to the side and she placed a butterfly soft kiss against the pulse point on his neck. His skin was warm and still moist from being freshly washed. Her hand rested against his chest as she raised her head and captured his lips for a brief moment in time.

"Hey, guys, Reid and I..." JJ stepped one foot into Emily's bedroom and then realized what she'd walked in on. "Oh, dear... I am so..." she watched Emily spring to her feet like a teenager who'd just been caught by her mother. "Um... there's something kind of important we wanted to show you, but maybe... well, it could probably wait," she shrugged.

"No," Derek stood. "It's fine. We weren't doing anything important."

Emily watched him exit the room and resisted the urge to slap him for his comment. She stomped down her fluctuating emotions and looked to JJ. "I'm so sorry, Emily," the younger woman apologized.

"You have nothing to apologize for, because... apparently there was nothing going on here," Emily sighed, dropping the picture of Beth onto her bed. "Did you check on Kyle?" she asked as they moved toward the living room.

JJ nodded. "Yeah, he's out of surgery. The bullet missed his femoral artery by a fraction of an inch. He's going to be fine."

When the entered the living room, Reid was standing beside the coffee table where a laptop was open. On the screen was the image of someone else Emily hadn't seen in three years, the effervescent BAU technical analyst. "_Emily the Triumphant!_" Garcia exclaimed as soon as she spotted the woman. "_I heard you are a slayer of dragons and saved the day,_" her smile lit up the small screen.

"You always make everything sound more lively," Emily grinned. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you."

"_Well, it is ubber good to see you too, sweetie. But, I do have to say I have a bone to pick with you for managing to elude me all these years. That is so not good for my ego, you know? Not to mention Derek was a real thorn in my side all that time, hounding me to find you._"

"Hey," Morgan protested. "I wasn't that bad, baby girl."

Penelope smiled mischievously. "_Yes you were, but I am not the baby girl you seek._" She turned her head to the right and then to the left. "_Oh, dear... where did she go?_" Garcia rolled her chair backwards and glanced beneath her desk. "_Get out from under there you little monkey,_" she wrestled with the willful child before hefting her up. "_Auntie Garcia has got a surprise for you, look..._" she pointed to the screen, but Beth had her back to the object. She was much more interested with the dangly things on Garcia's ears. "_No, no, I understand those are shiny and fun, but... turn around, honey..._"

"Hi, baby," Emily got down on her knees in front of the computer and called to her daughter.

Beth instantly turned around and sunk down onto Garcia's lap. "_Mama!_" she chirped, reaching out to touch the screen with both her hands. "_Mama hug. Mama hold,_" her tiny voice quaked as she tried to grab hold of Emily through the monitor.

"_Oh, goodness,_" Garcia's stomach clenched. "_Maybe this wasn't the best idea._"

"It's okay, she's okay," Emily's voice was calm, though her tears had returned. "Bethy, mama can't hold you right now but I will really soon. _Really_ soon, baby," she tried to reassure the child, seeing the tears in her eyes as well. "I love you so much, and I've missed you like crazy."

"_Miss mama,_" Beth lamented, still making grabby motions at the screen.

Emily felt a warm hand on her shoulder and knew it was Derek. She couldn't quite understand how he kept swinging back and forth between seeming like he carried about her to giving her the cold shoulder. But she pushed those thoughts aside for the moment and further tried to comfort her daughter from a distance. "Bethy, where is Thumbkin?" Emily asked the girl.

The child held her left hand up and closed all the fingers into a tiny fist, leaving her thumb out. "_Mama sing?_"

"Where is Thumbkin? Where is..." Emily gladly sang the tune, not caring that everyone could hear her less-than-stellar singing voice. She often sang the French melody, _Frère Jacques_, to Beth before bedtime. But the, _Where is Thumbkin_, version to the same tune was a favorite of the girl. She watched as Beth settled down and laid her head against Penelope's chest. Her dark hair was done up in lop-sided pig tails with pink ribbons, and she wore a white shirt under purple denim overalls. Big brown eyes sparkled as she listened to her mother sing. And the look on her face reminded Emily so much of Derek, the same sort of half-frown and half-smile he'd worn earlier.

"_Your parents went with Anderson to get coffee,_" Garcia explained when the song was finished. "_I said I'd get Beth back to them in a few minutes,_" she seemed loath to break up the reunion.

"That's okay," Emily acknowledged. "Beth, I won't see you until the morning, so you be good for grandma and grandpa. Alright, baby? I love you."

"_Lub mama,_" Beth replied.

"_Time to say goodbye,_" Penelope whispered to the girl. "_Can you wave?_"

Beth flapped her left hand. "_Bye mama... bye daddy._"

Derek's heart melted to realize his little girl had noticed he was there too. "Bye, sweetheart. I love you."

"_Lub daddy,_" Beth replied.

Emily waved too. "Bye-bye, baby." A second later the image of Garcia and Beth winked out. She got to her feet again and ran both hands through her damp hair. "Credit card," she murmured to herself. "I need to find..." Emily looked up and caught Reid's attention. "Did you guys retrieve my purse? It was in the car when I was... no, never mind. I have statements somewhere I can get the number from..." she went to the desk and opened a drawer.

"Hey, Emily, slow down a sec," Derek could tell that seeing Beth had gotten her worked into some sort of frenzy. He watched her rummage through the drawer and heard a knock on the front door at the same time. Morgan was grateful that JJ let Hotch and Rossi in, as his focus was elsewhere at the moment.

"I need to have a credit card to book a flight," Emily explained. "Beth has already been through enough without having to make another trip so soon. And I need to be there in the morning when she wakes up, because I just promised her that. So, I need to go. Now."

"Emily," Hotch addressed her. "Why don't you fly back with us," he offered.

She instantly latched on to his words. "Really? Can we leave now?"

He nodded. "Sure, we've got everything wrapped up here. Just as soon as you gather whatever you need we can head to the airport."

"The only thing I need is Beth, and she's in DC. So, can we go now? _Right_ now?"

Hotch understood that there were some moments when a parent just needed to see their child, no matter the time of day or the distance between them. He'd experienced that first hand many times, and her eagerness fueled his own desire to see Jack again. "Yes, we can leave right now."

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

Because you all have been so kind, and patient... today I give you a double-header. Please enjoy!

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 13

By N. J. Borba

* * *

As the BAU jet soared several thousand feet above the ground, the northwestern evening sky slipped into an eastern night sky. Gray clouds turned into hues of lavender, gold and orange, which slowly became dark blue and then faded into an inky black horizon. Hotch was seated across from Morgan and noticed the unused headphones around his neck and the downward gaze. Neither one had said a word for hours, but Hotch couldn't stand to see the glum look on Derek's face any longer. They'd worked together for nearly ten years, but had only become closer the last four. The real turning point from boss and employee had shifted after Derek had taken over the reigns for a while. Hotch had seen the younger man on mostly equal footing ever since then, even as he'd returned to being the team leader.

"I understand that what Emily did was pretty horrible, keeping your daughter from you," Hotch dove straight into the heart of things, keeping his voice low. On a small plane words could travel a great distance. "But I'm guessing you didn't give her much reason to think she had a shot at a future with you," he bravely stated. Normally Hotch wasn't one to venture into such territory, but it seemed someone needed to slap Derek upside the head. And his mother wasn't around at the moment.

Morgan looked up and stared at the man for a second. He wasn't sure he'd heard his boss correctly, because it certainly wasn't the kind of conversation he'd expect from Hotch. But something within those words helped loosen the hold he had on his emotions and he found himself responding. "It's not even so much what she did. You're right, I wasn't ready to commit to her. I wasn't even ready to commit to Tamara. And..." he sighed. "I don't know if I'll ever be ready for those things. To be a good dad, or even a mediocre one. To be a husband, or even just to be a friend to her; a friend who I share custody of my child with."

"No one is ever really ready for those things, Morgan," Hotch shook his head, trying not to laugh at the younger man. For all his bravado on the job, Derek seemed to be scared by the prospect of creating a family. Hotch had to wonder if the death of Morgan's father at such a young age had any influence on his doubts about being a good dad. But he tried not to profile his friend. "No matter how hard we plan things, sometimes life just happens. And we all fake it till we make it, or we fall on our faces. But you'll never know if you can make it, if you don't even try. If you still love her, you should tell her. See where things go from there," Hotch concluded.

"And you really think it's that easy?" Derek was still leery.

"You have the power to make it that easy," Hotch replied. He'd heard the note of hesitation that remained in Morgan's tone. Something more potent needed to be done, and Hotch realized he held the key. "I loved Haley more than anything, but I let this job get in the way of our happiness." He took a shallow breath. "The bottom line is, you still have a chance to make things right. And you have no idea what I would give to have another chance to make things right with Haley."

Derek swallowed a lump in his throat. He knew how difficult the last several years had been on Hotch, raising his son alone. Emily was alive, she'd survived her ordeal. And his problems seemed miniscule in comparison to what Hotch probably felt every morning, facing another day without the true love of his life. Morgan sighed. "You're right again," he finally replied. "Emily and I have a lot to talk about."

"Don't just say that, Morgan. Don't keep putting it off, waiting for a more convenient time. Mean it, and do it," Hotch cautioned as they noticed JJ walking past them.

JJ caught a little of what had been said by Hotch. She had to agree that he was right as she made her way to the back of the plane with two paper cups of tea, one in each hand. She slipped into the seat across from Emily and handed one of the cups over to her. "Even though it doesn't seem you're going to be sleeping any time soon, I figured herb tea would be a better idea than coffee."

"Thanks," Emily held the warm cup between her hands and stared out at the dark void through the window. Her eyes returned to JJ a moment later. "I thought I'd be out like a light once we took off, but my head just won't shut down. And, I know Beth will be asleep by the time I get to my parent's place, but I'm still thinking about all the kisses I'm going to give her the second I see her."

A smile bloomed on JJ's face as she remembered another plane ride years ago, in which she'd told Emily that she thought her and kids were a good idea. "I know. No matter what time of day it is when I get home after a case, I always give Henry the biggest hug and kiss possible."

Emily grinned too. "Henry is what, four now?"

"He'll be five in November." JJ shook her head. "How that happened, I do not know," she chuckled. "Oh, hey... I'm not sure how long you and Beth will be staying back east but you should definitely bring her over at some point to meet Henry. I think they'd have fun playing together. He's really into trains right now, and Will seems happy to feed that addiction. I swear they come home every other day with some new object for their railroad. Mini-houses to place along the tracks, and trees, people..." she laughed again. "It's quite a production they've got going on."

"Seeing that sounds like a hard offer to resist," Emily also thought it would be fun for Beth to know the children of some of the best friends she'd ever had. "Just so you know, though, Beth has been in this stingy phase lately. Which pretty much means that sharing toys is low on her priority list."

"Oh, yeah," JJ nodded. "Henry went through that stage too. Didn't grow out of it until he was about three and a half years old. And trust me, when they say terrible twos, they should really tell you that it lasts into age three and four."

Emily sighed. "Great," she cringed a little at the thought.

"Beth is really sweet, though," JJ added. "She even called Reid, weed, when we were in Seattle." They both had a chuckle at that, but JJ grew serious again, seeing if she could add to Hotch's attempts with Morgan. "When we first arrived at your place on Tuesday, she was firmly latched on to Derek. It was pretty obvious how happy she was to see him, and the feeling was mutual. Derek barely put her down the whole time we were there. And Beth cried when we all left to go interview Philip Kupfer. She was so sad to see him go, but I'm not sure who that separation hurt more, her or Derek."

JJ's words hit their intended target and fresh tears welled in the corner of Emily's eyes, just when she thought the well had run dry. "She loves her daddy, and she shouldn't have to choose between us," Emily whispered.

Her eyes once more sought out the black void beyond the plane's window. She made silent promises as she stared at the blinking white light on the end of the wing. Once she'd held her baby girl again, and as soon as her head stopped feeling like a teeter-totter, Emily vowed that they would finally have that talk they kept putting off. They'd finally figure out how to do what was best for their daughter. And they would finally get their feelings out in the open, even if it killed them.

xxx

It was just after ten o'clock eastern time when they landed at the small airstrip in Quantico, near the BAU headquarters. Emily got to her feet and stretched her sore muscles. She could see Morgan rubbing his bruised shoulder and hoped he wasn't hurting too badly. It seemed he was never far from her thoughts. Emily picked up her tote bag and the lightweight jacket she'd brought along. Despite her claim of not needing anything, she'd thrown on shoes and grabbed the small bag she kept close for emergencies. It was her non-FBI version of a ready bag. And JJ had steered her toward the purse they'd recovered from her car, so she'd have proper ID for traveling. With those few items in hand, Emily proceeded toward the exit. Everyone else had already gone, aside from Derek. He stood waiting by the door for her.

"I can give you a lift to your parent's house," he offered.

Emily flashed a tired smile. "Thanks, but I know you're tired too. And injured. I can just take a cab."

Morgan tried not to let her dismissal bother him. He couldn't blame her, recalling the way he'd pushed her away earlier after that kiss in her bedroom. They certainly seemed to be getting good at the game of tug-a-war. "Really, it's no trouble. And, well... I guess it's kind of a selfish offer, because I'd really like to sneak a peak at Beth tonight before I head home," he admitted. "Seeing her with Garcia was good, but..."

"The real thing will be better," Emily concluded as she started down the steps, Derek following at her heels.

The airstrip was relatively quiet; the bulk of the day's activity long over. Several pole lights lit the area and a soft breeze blew across the tarmac as they descended. Emily felt a little cold, still not fully recovered from the bone soaking chill that had befallen her earlier in the day. It seemed like all of that had happened a lot longer ago than just fourteen hours ago. When they reached the ground, Emily realized she hadn't really given Derek a final answer to his offer. She was about to turn her attention to him when she caught sight of something in the distance. Emily was surprised to see her parents standing several yards away, and even more surprised to see the little girl in her father's arms. She watched as Beth clamored to be let down, and her father gave in. Then the child, clad in nothing more than her pink footy pajamas and with her toy duck in one hand, ran straight toward her and Derek.

Hotch and the others parted like the Red Sea to let the girl through, seeing that she was on a mission. Emily dropped her bag and scooped Beth up into her arms, feeling like she was in some sappy movie scene. She didn't care, letting the rest of the world fade away for a few seconds as she repeatedly kissed her daughter's cheeks, neck and any other area of exposed skin on the girl. "Do you know how much mama missed you, sweetie?" Emily asked.

"Mama hold," Beth cooed as she snuggled up with her stuffed duck under one arm and her head against Emily's shoulder.

Emily noticed the new toy. "Where did you get this cute little guy?" she asked, rubbing Beth's back with her right hand. "Have grandma and grandpa been spoiling you?"

Beth blinked up at her. "Daddy," she replied.

That answer surprised Emily, but she thought maybe Beth had just noticed that Morgan was standing beside them. She turned to Derek. "Did you find this for her?"

"I did. Apparently you need to do more internet shopping," he grinned, leaning in to kiss Beth atop her head.

"I guess so," she chuckled softly, impressed that he'd tracked down the special item for their daughter. The three of them moved toward the building where the team had joined her parents. Emily managed to hug both her parents, each with one-armed embraces to accommodate her little girl, who didn't seem like she planned on leaving Emily's side any time in the near future. She gently assured her mother that the injury to her head wasn't serious, and then expertly changed the subject. "How did you get authorization to meet me here?"

"Agent Hotchner arranged everything for us," Elizabeth informed her.

Emily caught Hotch's eye and knew he must have had it all planned since he offered for her to fly back with them. She smiled and watched his head nod, ever so slightly. It was all the thanks they needed to share. Beth's eyes were extremely droopy when she glanced over at the child again, but the girl seemed reluctant to actually fall asleep. "I can't believe she's managed to stay up this late."

"Well," Joseph Prentiss spoke up. "The plan was to leave her with Silvia tonight while we came to get you. But your mother made the mistake of telling Beth we were going to see you and she wouldn't fall asleep, so we brought her along," he shrugged.

"I guess I can't be too upset," Emily had to admit. As she'd suspected, holding the girl made a lot of things feel right again. "She'll probably be cranky tomorrow, but I'm glad to see her now."

Elizabeth laid a hand against her daughter's shoulder. "We should really get you both home," she said.

"Okay," Emily nodded and turned to find Morgan still glued beside Beth.

"We'll talk later, in a few days after you get some rest," Derek spoke up first, sensing that she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. He'd been hoping to chat a little on their way to her parent's place, but that plan had crashed and burned. "You both look exhausted," Morgan added, further insisting that they get going. But, before Emily could take a step away, he leaned in and kissed Beth again. "You be good, sweetheart. Take care of your mama," he instructed. His eyes fell upon Emily again. "Get some rest," he reiterated.

She nodded. "You too."

Morgan watched them all walk to their waiting car and soon enough the vehicle disappeared into the night. He turned around to find the four other members of his team standing in a line, facing him with morose looks. Almost like a firing squad about to perform their unpleasant execution duties. "You've spent the last three years trying to track her down..." Rossi began.

"And the last few days searching for her, hoping she was still alive..." Hotch added.

"Now you're just going to let her walk away?" Reid asked.

Derek sighed, but made up his own mind. "It's late, they're tired... I'm tired. And... after all this time, what difference is a few more days going to make?"

"Oh, I don't know..." JJ shrugged as she breezed past him toward their SUV. "Maybe all the difference in the world."

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 14

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Morgan had managed to forget his worries long enough to sleep for twelve hours straight that night. He woke at noon and had a little something to eat along with several cups of coffee and a few pain killers. Then he'd had a long phone conversation with his mother, telling her everything about Beth and Emily and the past week. It had actually gone much better than he'd been anticipating, though she hadn't hesitated to tell him exactly how she felt about everything. Which was to say, not terribly pleased with him, but forgiving. By three o'clock that afternoon he was finally starting to feel Human again. That was about the time a swift knock rattled his door. When he answered, a stocky and gray-haired man stared back at him with a pleasant smile.

"Larry, how are you?" Morgan welcomed the superintendent of the apartment complex.

"Good, good. I'm always glad to see you back from a case, safe and sound," Larry greeted. He was in his late-sixties and lived with his wife, Anna, in one of the units on site. He and Derek had grown chummy a few years back after talking about old house remodeling. The man noticed the bandage on Derek's forehead. "Looks like it was a real bad one this time."

"Yeah, it was... difficult. But there was a mostly happy ending," Morgan relayed, though he didn't go into detail about Emily being kidnapped. He'd told the older man a little about her in the past, but nothing specific. "So, what have you got for me?" he asked, looking past Larry's shoulder and seeing one rather large box and a few smaller packages propped on a hand-cart.

"Well, Anna signed for these while you were gone, because you know we always do that for you," Larry explained, good naturedly. "But, uh, we weren't so sure about a few of these. Looks like they're from some baby supply warehouse, or something like that?" he asked with a knitted brow. "You got a kid we don't know about?"

Derek chuckled nervously, having forgotten about his other internet purchases late Monday night as he'd waited up hoping for a call from Emily. "Right, it's... they're for me. Well, not me exactly. It's okay, Larry. I ordered them."

The man nodded, not questioning the matter any further. "Okay then," he rolled the cart inside and helped Derek maneuvered them off the wheeled device. It didn't take long to move them, but Derek's shoulder was throbbing after they'd finished. He saw Larry out and then examined the packages.

A padded envelope sat atop the largest box. It displayed a store logo that was not at all related to the kid's place he'd ordered from. Morgan sighed as he opened it, glanced at the item and then immediately tucked it away in one of his desk drawers. He wasn't sure if that impulsive purchase would ever see the light of day again. It brought up memories of the previous night, and his team's insistence that he talk to Emily sooner rather than later. But he was standing firm on his belief that giving Emily a few days to rest was the right way to go about things. And Hotch had ordered him not to set a single foot in the BAU until Monday, so he tore into the large box, pulled out the pieces and started putting the object together.

It was just after five in the evening when he finished the project. Derek even put the finishing touches on it and stood back to look at his handy work. He shook his head, wondering what had gotten into him by making such a purchase. It seemed rather silly, but it also gave him hope that it might be used some day. Morgan was about to inspect one of the other smaller boxes when there was another knock at his door. Two visitors in one day was rare, but he imagined it was probably Larry back again, having forgotten some small package from before. He opened the door and was about to tease the older man about being curious about his deliveries. But he stopped short when he saw Emily standing there with Beth on one hip and a diaper bag slung over her shoulder.

"Hi," Emily said.

"Hey," Derek replied.

She watched him stand there for a long time, just staring at her. "Can we come in?" Emily finally asked.

Morgan quickly blinked out of his trance and stepped back, waving them in. "Of course. Sorry, I just wasn't expecting to see you for a few days." He closed the door and the three of them stood huddled just inside the apartment. "I thought you'd be resting."

"Well, resting with a two-year-old only lasts so long," Emily chuckled. "She's been attached at the hip most of the day, even slept with me last night."

He smiled, but then frowned when he noticed something on Beth's forehead. Derek reached out to touch the colorful bandage. "What happened, sweetheart?"

Beth ducked her head a little, seeming bashful all of a sudden. "Nothing," Emily answered as she touched the drab bandage on her head. "She just wanted to have the same thing mama has. And look, Bethy," she pointed to Derek's forehead. "Daddy has one too." The girl still didn't look up, snuggling against Emily some more. "Why are you being so shy now? What have you been asking me to do all day?" Emily tried to coax the child.

"S-w-i-n-g?" Derek asked.

Emily shook her head. "Nope, not that. My mother and father have one of those in the yard, and my dad has been all too pleased to push her for hours on end. I swear, seeing them as grandparents is so odd some days. They were never that abiding with me as a child." She dropped the bag onto the floor and then addressed her daughter again. "Who did you tell me you wanted to see today, Beth?"

The girl finally smiled and sat up, peaking over at Derek. "See daddy," she answered.

"Is that right?" Morgan felt immensely proud. He held his hands out to her. "Can I get a hug? I didn't get any hugs last night," he pouted.

"Hug daddy!" Beth lunged for him, getting over her momentary hesitation very quickly.

Derek guessed that it was probably seeing him someplace different that had confused her a little at first. He held her tightly, not carrying about the sting in his left shoulder. She placed a slobbery kiss against his cheek and he returned several kisses to her cheeks and forehead. "I'm very glad you came to visit," he let the girl know. "Maybe we could all have dinner together?" Morgan looked to Emily. "If you don't have other plans."

"Dinner would be nice," she agreed.

"Oh..." he scrunched up his nose as he sat Beth down on her feet. "I don't really have anything to eat. I've been gone for days and haven't shopped yet."

Emily remembered that lifestyle, not too fondly. "We could order a pizza."

"Pizza?" he stared at her a moment. "That's not very healthy is it?" Derek teased.

She shrugged. "It has grain, dairy, veggie... besides, it's a special occasion, right?"

He nodded, not about to argue with her as he went to grab his phone and place an order. They immediately put him on hold, which he should have guessed given it was a Friday night. Morgan watched as Beth explored his small apartment, probably looking for toys, which he didn't have. Eventually she climbed atop the piece of furniture he'd put together earlier. And he could see Emily's brows arch in a questioning manner. "It's a toddler bed," he announced.

"I see that," Emily replied as she regarded the white, wood-framed bed. "Did you buy this for her?"

"No," he shook his head, holding the phone slightly to one side of his ear. "I got it for Reid when he comes to spend the night," Derek joked.

Her laughter filled the space. "Well, I'm sure he'll love the lavender sheets." Emily watched him roll his eyes and then return his attention to the phone call. She couldn't help noticing the other two boxes in his small living room. One had a picture of a swing and the other a potty seat with ducks on it. Beth also noticed the ducks on the box and pointed them out to her mother. Then the girl ran toward the door and fished her duck out of the bag. She sped back and jumped onto the bed, curling up with her stuffed animal. "Are you ready for bed?" Emily asked.

Beth nodded. "Yes!"

Derek watched the whole scene as he finished his order. After hanging up, he crept toward the bed and then pounced on the girl, tickling her tummy. "You're a silly goose."

"Ducky!" Beth countered.

He sat down on the small bed and held Beth upon his lap as he watched Emily take a seat on the sofa. Everything in the room was somewhat cramped with the bed in there, but he had no place else to put it. His apartment didn't even have a proper bedroom, just a loft area where he slept. That got his mind whirling. "You know what," he spoke to Beth. "Daddy is fixing up a house across town that has two bedrooms and a big back yard. I bet this bed would look good in one of those rooms, don't you?"

"Yes!" she agreed, without really understanding what he was saying.

Morgan caught Emily's eye. "I know it'll be a long time before she can hop on a plane to come see me, but maybe if you're visiting your parents she could stay a night with me. At least the bed wouldn't be a total waste of money that way," he shrugged. Without waiting for an answer, he went about tickling Beth again, and they rolled around on the bed, taking turns tickling each other and making as much noise as they possibly could.

Emily watched them play, keeping her distance. She mulled over what he'd said about Beth visiting, and made a final decision about something she'd been debating in her head all day. When the pizza finally arrived they managed to squeeze in around the small round table beside his equal tiny kitchen. Derek had laid out plates and napkins but forgot about drinks. "Would you like a beer?" he asked Emily.

"Um, sure, maybe just a little," she replied. "After nearly two years of gestating and nursing, in which alcohol had no place in my diet, I guess I turned in to a bit of a lightweight." A lot of her old life had drifted away with the advent of becoming a mother. And she really didn't miss much of it, because having Beth in her life was worth it.

He got up from the table and was about to grab the beers when he laid eyes on his daughter. "I don't think I have anything for Beth to drink, other than water or beer. She's probably a bit too young for the water, though," Derek joked.

"That's okay," Emily got up and retrieved her bag. "Ta-da," she triumphantly pulled out a container of apple juice. "There are some things you never leave the house without when traveling with a two-year-old." She went to get a small glass for Beth and shoed him back to the table, promising to get all their drinks.

"Guess I still have a lot to learn about this parenting business," Derek noted as he grabbed the smallest slice from the cheese-only half of their pizza and placed it on Beth's plate. He doled out two pieces each of the other half for Emily and himself, then stowed the box on the nearby counter. When he returned to the table, Derek noticed that Beth hadn't touched her food yet. "Aren't you hungry, sweetie?" he asked.

"You have to cut it up for her," Emily told him, returning to the table with three glasses and a small fork she sat beside Beth's plate.

"What?" Derek looked appalled. "You don't eat thin crust pizza with a fork."

She grinned. "When you're two years old, you do."

Morgan shook his head, but he set about cutting her pizza up. "You know what, darling? Some day daddy is going to take you to Chicago and he's going to treat you to some deep dish pizza that will make your eyes roll back in your head. That's about the only time I think it's okay to eat pizza with a fork. And we'll stuff ourselves silly," he kissed the top of her head when he was done cutting her meal.

Beth dove into the food, using her hands rather than the fork. Emily decided not to harp on table manners for one night as she took a bite of her meal. "I heard Pizzeria Uno has bounced back since they had to file bankruptcy a few years ago."

"Yeah," Derek nodded, impressed that she knew that. "I always forget you lived in Chicago for a while. Speaking of which," he took a small sip of his beer. "I finally talked to my mom this morning, told her about Beth and everything else that's been going on."

Emily licked a bit of sauce from the corner of her mouth as she stared down at her half-eaten pizza slice. "Is she really upset?"

"No," Derek replied, sensing her worry. "I mean, she obviously wasn't thrilled about finding out she had a granddaughter several years after the fact, but mostly she just wants to know how soon she can meet Beth."

"Tell her, as soon as she wants. I'll even buy her a ticket to fly out here," Emily offered.

Derek was a little confused. "You mean, to Seattle?"

She shook her head. It seemed the time to tell him about her recently made decision was upon her. "I mean here, I'm moving back. We'll be staying at my parents place for a while until I can sell the house in Seattle and then... well, your mom can visit despite all of that."

"You're going to move back?" he was still stuck on that morsel of news. "But, you built a life for yourself in Seattle. Your home, the PI work."

"No, I ran away to Seattle, Derek," she replied. "And it was home for a while, but only because I had Beth with me. Wherever she is will be home. And the DC-Virginia area has always been more of a home to me than anywhere else. I think being a part of the BAU really cemented that for me. And, even though I'm not a part of the team any more, I'd still like to be close to the friends I made there. Also, mainly... I want Beth to be close to you, so maybe that bed can get some actual use," she nodded toward the object wedged in his living room.

Everything she said took a moment to sink in. He wanted to jump for joy, but also didn't want to scare her off. "It's not too late to be a part of the team again," Morgan found himself on a completely different track. "I think Hotch would consider it. You could ask Silvia to move out here too, watch Beth when we're out in the field. What you did in Seattle... you were amazing, Emily. You're still a profiler, with or without the badge."

The compliment felt good, but she'd all ready thought that part of her life through. "I only fought so hard out there this past week because I had something worth fighting for," Emily reached out and ran her hand over the back of Beth's head. "But I think one of her parents should have a little less risky job. I don't want to return to the BAU, at least not for several years. When Beth is older and in school, maybe then," she shrugged, still not certain she wanted to risk it even then. She honestly didn't know how Hotch and JJ managed, although JJ did have Will.

He didn't press the matter, knowing it had been a long shot. And he admired the fact she had Beth's best interest in mind. "So, PI work in DC?"

"Nah, I don't think so," she wrinkled her nose. "I'm kind of sick of prying into people's private lives."

"But helping people find their pets, that had to feel good," Derek guessed.

"It did, but I'm kind of thinking I might do something a little more mundane for a while. Maybe something to do with photography," she shrugged. "I'm not sure yet. All I know is I want to focus on being a good mom first and foremost right now."

Derek admired that even more. They finished their meal with smaller talk that swung back around to favorite pizza joints in Chicago and the DC area. And somehow led into a discussion of _Dora the Explorer_ bandages and the cartoon, which Derek had never watched. All of which culminated in Beth showing off her Spanish skills that consisted of one word: _Hola_. Still, Derek didn't think Emily had any reason to worry about the child's language progression. After cleaning up, they spent the rest of the evening reading some kid's books Emily had brought along and playing a game Derek invented, which pretty much just involved the three of them waddling around the small apartment like ducks and seeing who would fall over first.

Beth was completely zonked out just before eight o'clock and Derek offered to call them a cab or drive them. But Emily laid the girl down on the bed he'd bought for her and let him know that she wanted to finally have that talk they'd been putting off. "I guess we can do some formal custody arrangement, but as far as I'm concerned, you can see her whenever you want," Emily insisted. "That's a big part of the reason I want to be out here, because she needs you in her life. And I'd never keep her away from you..." she sighed. "I mean, now that..."

"I know what you mean," Derek kept his voice low as they sat on the sofa facing one another, not wanting to wake Beth who was just a few feet away. As he looked in to Emily's eyes, he was bombarded by the memory of their bodies moving together that night, flesh against flesh. That one perfect, messed up night. The night their daughter had been conceived. He felt a damn give way in his head. "Emily, I'm so sorry for what I said Sunday. That's why I was calling Monday, to apologize. I still can't believe I said those things. I never meant them."

She bit down gently on her lower lip. "I knew you didn't mean those words, Derek. Just like I told you some day Beth will probably tell us she doesn't like us very much. I was just so upset that you actually said those things, but I know I have no one to blame but myself for never telling you the truth. So, here's the truth, Derek." Emily swallowed, laying it all on the line. "I love you. I loved you that night I came to visit you three years ago. I loved you before that. At first it was just a friendly kind of love, because I respected you and I knew you'd always be there to cover my back. Then it morphed into this thing in my head, and this ache in my chest and... shit, I still can't explain it. I just wish I'd been brave enough to tell you back then, because maybe we would have had a chance. But I know what I did is unforgivable, so..."

"Emily, I forgive you." The words were out of his mouth before he could really even think them through.

"You can't," she shook her head, trying to look away.

He reached out and touched her chin, making her face him. "Sure I can, and I just did. Murder, rape, molestation... those things are unforgivable. But this, yeah it will hurt for a while, but then it will dull to a sting and before long it will fade into the past with a lot of other undesirable memories," he paused, then smiled. "You know what my earliest memory is? It's of when my dad took me to see my first baseball game. I remember the smell of grass and hot dogs and my father's aftershave. And it was a great day. I was about five years old at the time. What's your earliest memory?"

Emily was a little thrown by his seemingly off topic question, but she gave it some thought. "My mother and I were walking somewhere in Paris to meet my grandparents for lunch and I tripped, skinned my knee. She was exasperated and crouched down on the street in front of me, trying to teach me how to properly tie my own laces."

Morgan wished it was a happier memory, but that wasn't the point. "How old were you then?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure, four maybe?"

"Exactly," he replied.

"Exactly, what?" Emily was still very lost as to what point he was trying to make.

Derek glanced over at his sleeping daughter. "How many kids remember events that took place when they were two-years-old? With any luck, Beth will never remember a time when I wasn't around. We could even get Penelope to Photoshop some pictures, insert me into those first few years." He was mostly kidding about the last part, but wanted her to know he was serious. "I forgive you, Emily."

"And, it's just that easy all of a sudden?" She remained doubtful.

"No, it's not," he honestly replied. Morgan took her hands in his. "But I don't want to wallow in the pain any more. I want to move on. Start over. One week ago I stood in your doorway and told you that the past didn't matter any more. I was ready to just pick up were we left off. A lot has happened this week, and I was very angry for a while, but I realize right now that I still feel the same way I did last Friday. I just want to pick up right here and go on. Leave the past behind. And..." he remembered what Hotch had told him last night on the plane. "We have the power to make it easy if we want."

"This is crazy," Emily was reluctant to let herself fall again. The first time had hurt too much.

He shrugged, but squeezed her hands a little tighter. "Maybe. But there's something I've been needing to tell you for the last three years. Something I should have told you that night," Derek leaned forward a little more and whispered the words. "I love you, Emily. And there's a lot of forgiveness in love, right?" He reminded her of Garcia's words as he sat back. She was silent, so he pressed on. "That house I told Beth about, I don't want to live there alone and pine away for the weekends and holidays that she'll come visit. I want to be her daddy every day, and your... whatever you'll let me be. I want us to live there as a family. All you have to do is say that you'll stay with me tonight, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and..."

She bit back tears. "You read the note?"

"Yeah, I read the note." Morgan nodded. "And I swear I never would have told you to go, Em." He brought one of her hands to his lips and kissed the tender, warm skin of her palm. With that kiss, he wiped away the last bit of his regret and anger. Wiped the slate clean. "Please, just say you'll stay this time?"

* * *

**To Be Continued...**


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the TV series, _Criminal Minds_.

* * *

**Full Circle  
**Part 15

By N. J. Borba

* * *

Morgan opened his eyes and stretched his arms above his head as the last remnants of sleep slowly escaped his body. He blinked against the soft strands of sunlight that filtered through the window behind his bed. The golden light cast patterns across his emerald green comforter, dipping and weaving with the folds of fabric. Despite the relaxed setting, Derek felt like something was wrong. His heart suddenly seized up as his eyes darted around the room. Emily wasn't there, not in his bed or anywhere in the small loft bedroom. He pushed back sheets and got to his feet, clad in only his dark grey boxer briefs. Morgan wondered if he'd dreamed everything that had happened the night before; Emily agreeing to stay, making love, falling asleep with her wrapped in his arms. It had felt very real, but the fog of sleep was leading him to question it all, until he glanced down over the wood rail and spotted his little girl asleep in the bed that was still wedged in his living room.

"You're awake," Emily called to him.

He spun around to see her standing in the doorway between the bathroom and bedroom area. She was wearing nothing but one of his t-shirts, a dark blue one that hit her mid-thigh. His heart slowed and a smile quickly formed. "I am," Derek breathed easier. He walked toward her slowly, like a wild animal stalking his prey. Then he moved in for the kill, though it was a gentle kill given both of them were still rather sore from the kidnapping ordeal. He tenderly embraced her and moved their union toward the bed. Morgan kissed her once, quickly. Then again, slower, languishing in the delightful act.

Emily certainly enjoyed the kiss, but it felt a bit frantic to her as they scooted toward the head of the bed and settled under the covers again. Her heart ached as she regarded him, watching his eyes practically bore a hole through her. It was almost as if he didn't want to look away, for fear she might vanish in a puff of smoke. "Did you think I'd left?" she asked him.

"What?" he tried to pretend that her words had no effect on him. "No, of course not."

She bit her lip, easily identifying the lie beneath his false facade. "Derek..." Emily sighed. "You did think that, didn't you? I'm sorry, I was just..."

"It's okay," he stopped her. Derek took a deep breath, deciding not to keep any truths from her. "I did think that for a second, but that's just my own little issue I'll have to work past." Morgan drew her closer, wrapping his arms about her waist as she snuggled with her back against his chest. He kissed along her neck, reminding himself that she really was still there in his apartment, and most importantly, in his life. "You know, I was thinking that if you wanted to return to the team and are worried about having one parent with Beth at all times, I could be a stay-at-home dad," he offered.

Emily turned and cocked her head to look up at him. "Are you serious?"

"Completely," Derek nodded. "You really were amazing this past week, climbing through air vents and ripping off duct tape with your teeth. Kind of like an action hero."

Her lips curled upward. "Even though I put myself in the path of a bullet for you?"

"Yeah, even though," he agreed. "I just want you to be happy, and I kind of feel like it's my fault you took off and left the bureau."

"We're both to blame for that," she reminded him. "And your offer is wonderful. I really do want you and Beth to spend lots of time together, but..."

"You still can't stand the thought of being away from her for more than a few hours, hmm?" he guessed.

She shook her head. "Nope. I guess it will have to happen one of these days when she goes off to school. But until then, you can be my bread winner," Emily winked.

"How very 1960's of you Ms. Stewart," Derek chuckled.

Emily cringed. "I have to tell you, I kind of hate that name. I think I'd like to be Emily Prentiss again; be myself again. And I'd like Beth to have your last name."

"Really?" he asked. "Now _that_ is very old-school of you."

"I know," she nodded. "But we've done just about everything in an untraditional manner so far, and that's one thing I'd like to rectify."

His pleasure at the news came in the form of another kiss that started off as a small thank you, and grew into a rather steamy entanglement. Eyes closed and lost in each other, they didn't hear or see who was creeping up on them until the bed shifted and the two-year-old crawled between them. Derek laughed, not at all upset by the interruption. He snatched up the little girl, who was clinging to her stuffed duck and dressed in only a t-shirt and diaper. Morgan held her at arm's length as she sat on his stomach. "You really are a little monkey, aren't ya? And quiet as a mouse, too," he noted.

Emily sniffed and wrinkled her nose. "A stinky little monkey-mouse," she noticed, leaning over to give Beth a good-morning kiss. "Stay with daddy, stinky. I'll be right back." Emily took off down the stairs and returned shortly with the diaper bag. She plucked Beth out of the bed, sat back on her legs and went about removing the pull-up diaper as the girl stood in front of her, holding on to her shoulders. "We really need to work on potty training some more, don't we?" Emily asked. "I think you're getting way to big for this diaper business." She pulled out some wipes and noticed Derek propped on the bed, staring down at her. "What?"

"Nothing, you just look... cute," he grinned. "Watching you be all mommy-ish, it's sweet. And sexy as hell, too."

Her eyes widened as she attempted to cover Beth's ears. "Don't use the H-word. You know how she likes to mimic everything,"

"Sorry," Morgan apologized. "But it's true."

"Derek..." Emily shook her head as she finished up with Beth. "If watching me change a dirty diaper turns you on... that is one messed up kink."

He shrugged. "Oh, yeah? Is it a deal breaker?"

"Yep, I'm afraid it's a definite deal breaker," she teased, depositing a clean Beth back onto the bed. Emily watched as the girl snuggled up beside Derek again. As she walked to the bathroom to dump the dirty diaper and wash her hands, she could hear Derek telling the girl a story. Emily stood in the doorway after her task was complete and listened to the end of the familiar fable about the prince who caught a fallen star for his fair maiden. She crawled back into the bed, kissing Beth on her forehead as she eyed Derek. "You stealing my material now?" she asked.

"Just borrowing," he replied. "You know, it's not weird, me finding you attractive when you're doing the mom thing. I just love seeing how much you love her, enough to willingly clean her bottom."

She looked over at Beth. "That's what you do for your kids, because you love them so much that you never want to see them hurt or be uncomfortable in any way."

"Well, I do love her an awful lot," he agreed. "But in this case, I think I'll vote with you on getting aggressive about potty training."

Emily chuckled, recalling the potty seat he'd purchased. "Yeah, we can start back with that once we get settled into our new house. Which I really hope has a lock on one of the bedroom doors."

"You want to lock our daughter in her room?" he asked, holding a hand to his heart and feigning an overly dramatic look of shock.

She rolled her eyes at his silly-business. "You know I meant for _our_ room," Emily lightly slapped his shoulder.

He certainly liked the sound of that, them sharing a room in a house where they would live together with their daughter. "I think that can probably be arranged," Derek nodded. A thought came to mind, something that made his eyes light up as he carefully extracted himself from the bed. He kissed Beth's cheek. "You stay here with mama for a second, okay?" Morgan hurried down the stairs and reached his desk. He opened the top drawer where he'd left something the day before. Something he hadn't been sure he'd ever be able to gain the courage to give her. But now seemed like the perfect time.

Back upstairs, Emily watched him appear again; moving around the side of the bed with one hand behind his back. "What've you got there, Morgan?" she asked.

Derek wore a serious face as he climbed back into the bed, Beth laying between them again. The girl was rambling softly to her toy duck about something, not paying much attention to her parents. He held his right hand out to Emily, revealing the small jewelry box. "It's not..." he paused, unsure of what to call it. Morgan decided to just open the box and pull the ring out for her to see. "It's something I wish I could have given you when Beth was born. And I kind of stole the idea from JJ. See," he pointed to one of the three birthstones in the silver setting. "That's mine, and there's yours," he tapped the one furthest from his. Then his index finger settled on the small ruby in the middle. "And that's our baby girl there nestled between us."

Emily reached out and took the ring, a tear glistening in the corner of her left eye. "It's really beautiful. Thank you," she gulped.

"You can, uh... wear it on whatever finger you want." He was a little nervous about the whole thing, not wanting her to feel pressured. Their reunion was still so fresh that he wanted to take it slow. Or at least as slow as one could after pinning for a woman three long years.

She nodded, understanding what he meant. Emily was grateful of his patients, but the ring seemed to have a mind of its own, only managing to fit on the very last finger she tried; her left ring finger. A smile chased away her tear. "I think I'd like for it to be a promise ring," she finally told him. "The promise that we will always love our daughter and each other, no matter what. And that we'll never hide our true feelings again, being open and honest about what we want out of life. And what I want is to love you and Beth all the remaining days of my life. That's my promise to you, Derek."

"That's my promise to you too, Emily," he took her hand in his and kissed the ring finger. Then he kissed her palm the way he had the night before. Slowly his lips moved upward, along her arm and eventually reaching her neck. They kissed the soft, warm skin beneath her ear, where he whispered even softer words, "I love you." Finally his lips found their favorite target; an equal and opposite pair. They danced together for a moment.

"Feed the ducky?" Beth's voice interrupted, making them aware that she was still there.

Morgan glanced down at her toy. "He's just a stuffed ducky. What's he going to eat? More stuffing?"

Beth giggled. "Feed ducky!"

"Oh, maybe you mean we should feed you, little ducky?" Derek asked the child. "Do you like pancakes?"

"Feed duckies!" Beth squealed loudly.

Emily smoothed a hand over her daughter's dark hair. "Shh... not so loud, sweetie." When she looked up and caught Derek's eye, Emily attempted to explain the point she thought her daughter was trying to get across. "It's Saturday."

"Yes it is," he nodded, not quite following her.

"Beth knows we usually go feed the ducks on Saturday," Emily concluded.

"That's right," Morgan's head nodded more vigorously as he remembered his first real meeting with his daughter. He scooped his little girl up and kissed her cheek several times in rapid succession. "You really are my smart girl, aren't you?" Beth smiled, holding her duck up so he would kiss the stuffed animal too. "Well, since the only thing I really have down in my kitchen is some stale bread, it seems we need to find ourselves a new duck feeding spot."

xxx

After coffee and pancakes at a nearby diner, Emily and Beth had gone back to her parent's place to collect their few belongings, while Derek went to the store to buy groceries and treats for their picnic. Then they drove out to see the house he had in mind for them to live. Emily loved it and they spent nearly two hours there, picking out colors to paint each room and finding the perfect tree for Beth's new swing. Now, with a large blanket spread out in a grassy area of the park, the three of them relaxed and soaked up the sun. The park Derek had chosen was bustling with activity on the warm, spring afternoon. It only had a small pond, but he'd seen plenty of ducks there in the past, on his jogs around the trail that circled the park.

With Emily lounging on her stomach, and Beth just woken from her short nap, Derek reached into a bag and pulled out two cookies. He passed one to the girl seated in his lap and they munched their treats, but not quietly enough. Emily sat up, spied the cookies and shook her head at him. "You really have a thing against Oreo's, don't you?" he asked, his mouth still half-full of cookie.

"I didn't until I ate about a million of them while I was pregnant," she replied. "And now I know I have your DNA to thank for that craving."

Derek shrugged. "Sorry?" He wasn't sure if she was upset or not, but tried a different tactic. "It's a special occasion."

"That was last night," Emily countered.

"So, you can declare a special occasion, but I can't?" he challenged. "Well, I've declared the whole weekend a special occasion."

She chuckled. "Of course you have. And is this going to be an every weekend sort of special occasion?"

He nodded, leaning in to kiss her. "I hope so, at least every weekend that I can be here with my two favorite girls."

"_Two_ favorite?" a female voice interrupted their kiss. "I think I've been insulted, regulated to the back of the bus, pushed aside like a worthless piece of..."

Emily looked up and spotted Garcia and Kevin walking toward them. "Penelope," she got to her feet and greeted the woman with a friendly hug. "Thanks for looking out for him all this time," Emily whispered, clearly in reference to Derek.

The tech grinned as she pulled away. "It was nothing, my dear."

Morgan and Emily welcomed Kevin and introduced him to Beth. Garcia added another blanket to the picnic area and the four adults were chatting amiably when Reid approached them. It was Beth who first noticed their newest guest. "Hi, weed!" she exclaimed.

Spencer sat down beside the girl. "We're going to have to work on that," he told the child.

"Aw, but I like it," Emily teased him, feeling at ease with all her old friends again.

Just a few minutes later a young boy came running up and plopped himself down in Garcia's lap. His blonde hair and aqua eyes were all Emily needed to peg him as JJ and Will's son, Henry. "Hi, Auntie P," he wrapped his arms around Penelope's neck and hugged her.

"Who's my favorite Godson?" Garcia asked him.

"Me!" the boy answered.

"Hi there, Henry," Reid reached over and tussled the boy's hair as Will and JJ finally caught up and planted themselves on a corner of Garcia's blanket, dropping the large duffle bag they'd brought along. A chorus of welcomes ensued.

Morgan held a hand out to Henry, palm-up. "How you doing, buddy?"

Henry gave him 'five', slapping his hand. "Good. Is that Beth?" he asked, pointing to the girl still sitting on Morgan's lap. "Does she like to play ball? Daddy brought my soccer ball and we could play. I'll be careful cause she's littler than me," he promised, looking to his mother for an answer.

"Why don't you ask her," JJ encouraged her son.

The boy grabbed a green and black soccer ball out of the bag his dad had been carrying. He walked over to Beth and kneeled down in front of her. "Hi, I'm Henry. I'm four and almost a half. I like trains, but mommy said we couldn't bring them to the park. I bringed my soccer ball instead. Do you wanna play?"

"Yes!" Beth replied.

Emily was impressed by the way her little girl took off after Henry, leaving her stuffed duck behind. "JJ, he's so verbose," she noted.

"I know, it seems like every day he comes home from pre-school with several new words in his arsenal," JJ said, wearing a proud smile. "Will keeps telling me I'm going to have to train him to do my job some day. He thinks Henry will be a natural at dealing with crowds and the media, a chip off the old block," she chuckled.

"Oh!" Garcia sprang to life. "Wouldn't that be funny if all our kids ended up being the next generation of BAU team members. Henry could definitely be the cool-headed media liaison. Beth would be kicking ass and taking names. And Jack..."

She paused and then they all spoke in unison. "Team leader."

"Did I hear my son's name mentioned?" Hotch asked as he approached the group. Jack had already broken away to join the kids. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, with a plastic baseball bat slung over one shoulder, the man looked very relaxed. He sat down on one of the blankets, looking to the outside world like a normal guy who took his son to the park every weekend. The team leader glanced Garcia's way, doing his best to join in on the fun. "If we're repopulating the BAU, you and Kevin need to get started on the ultimate technical analyst," he quipped.

"And who's going to take over the veteran position when I'm long gone?" Rossi asked as he strode toward them all.

Morgan pointed to the man seated beside him. "That'll be Reid."

Dave chuckled and glanced around. "I think I may have accidentally been invited to this shindig," he looked down at the dog on a leash beside him. "I didn't have kids to bring, so I brought Mudgy instead. He's good with kids. Better at duck hunting, though."

Emily glanced over to make sure Beth was well out of ear-shot. "In the future, maybe you could not mention the whole duck hunting thing," she held her daughter's stuffed toy up to make her point.

Mudgy lunged for the toy, but Rossi held him back. "Right," Dave nodded.

JJ looked a little guilty as she glanced up at Rossi. "I'm sorry, I must have hit the BAU group-text button on my cell after Derek called and asked if I could get everyone together. Sort of a reflex, I guess."

"Don't worry, Kevin and I don't have kids or a dog," Garcia tried to make him feel more at ease. "And we're glad to have you here."

"Hey," Derek caught Penelope's attention. "You guys can use Reid to fill that position for you today," he suggested.

Spencer frowned. "As what, their kid or their dog?" he asked, not thrilled by either option.

Laughter filled their small corner of the park as they enjoyed the rare time off away from their stressful job. They made small talk, avoiding work topics at all cost, and watched Jack and Henry take turns helping Beth kick the ball. Both older kids were very gentle with her, but before long Beth was running circles around them and stealing the ball with her hands, right out from under their feet. They had a heck of time keeping up with her, too. But the girl finally got tired of that and returned to her parents, asking about what she'd come to the park for in the first place. She tugged on her daddy's shirt sleeve. "Feed duckies?"

Derek hefted the girl into his arms as Emily grabbed their bag of old bread. "Excuse us, folks. We have a promise to fulfill," she said before the three of them slipped away from the group. Morgan and Emily sat on the gravely bank while Beth ran right up to the water's edge. "Please, don't step in the water, baby," Emily warned as they watched the girl toss bread into the pond. "Look, sweetie," she pointed as a family of ducks came swimming up. "A daddy, mama and baby duckies."

"Baby duckies," Beth giggled and threw more food to them.

Emily sat back, letting her daughter do all the feeding. She leaned against Derek. "They're so fuzzy and cute," she told him.

"Does that make you want another one?" he asked.

"What, a baby duck?"

He smiled, turning a little so they were facing one another. "A baby."

She instantly shook her head. "Um, no. I'm sorry, Derek, but this baby making factory was open for a one time only production. Even that was a huge surprise, given that I was on birth control at the time and the extra precautions you took," Emily waved a hand toward his lap.

"Which means we could have another surprise," he replied.

"Don't even think it," she looked him in the eye, sensing that he was actually entertaining the idea. "I'm serious, Derek. I already freaked out enough carrying Beth, worrying about being too old and everything that could go wrong."

His face relaxed, not sure if he'd been serious or not. "I wish I'd been there for you," Derek kissed her cheek.

"I wish you had too," Emily still felt a pang of guilt over it all, but she could see Derek was dealing. There was no longer blame in his eyes. "Now that I think about it, though, I guess she was really meant to be in our lives."

"She was," he easily agreed. "And I suppose one is good. They do say you should stop at perfection."

Emily looked up, realizing she hadn't been keeping a close enough eye on their daughter. "Yep, she's perfect all right. Perfectly like her father," she nodded her head toward the child, who was splashing knee-deep in the water. Emily jumped to her feet. "Doesn't follow orders very well and to heck with the consequences."

Morgan followed her to where Beth was. "Oh, we're going to blame that all on my genetics?" he asked.

"Yes, we are," she nodded, glancing down at the girl. "A love for Oreo cookies and innate stubbornness, she definitely gets those qualities from you." Beth stared up at her mother, clearly aware that she was in trouble, but she tried to smile her way out of it. "And that, how-could-you-dare-stay-mad-at-me-for-long, smile. That is all you, Derek Morgan," Emily pointed to the girl.

Without warning, Derek scooped Emily up off her feet and carried her toward the water, like a new husband with his bride about to cross a threshold. "Who promised me just this morning to always be honest, wasn't that you?" he asked, ignoring the slight throb in his left shoulder. "Now you must be punished for your dishonesty," Morgan made a move to toss her in.

"Derek, I swear to God, if you drop me, I'll..."

"What?" he playfully taunted her. "Take it back and I'll set you down."

Emily pursed her lips, but finally recanted. "Fine, I take it back. Beth gets her pig-headedness from both of us," she sighed in defeat as he put her down. "Living with the two of you is going to be an adventure."

"But I promise it'll be a good adventure," Derek replied with a confident grin, amazed by how much had changed for them in just a week's time. Instead of feeling like he would only ever be a part-time participant in his daughter's life, here he was pledging his love and devotion to the newly formed family of theirs.

She couldn't help smile. "Yes, I think it will..." Emily carefully bent down and fished their daughter out of the water. She handed the soggy child over to Derek. "The best adventure yet."

Morgan pulled Emily close again, smashing the wet toddler between them as they sealed that final promise with a kiss.

* * *

**The End**

**Thank you all for enjoying this story!**


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